Film Review: MOUSE (2026): A Moving and Powerful Story of Loss, Grief and Coming to Terms with New Beginnings

Mouse Review

Mouse (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, written by Kelly O’Sullivan and starring Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Chloe Coleman, Tara Mallen, Iman Vellani, David Hyde Pierce, Audrey Grace Marshall, Addisyn Grace Cain, Beck Nolan, Philip McDermott Young, Josh Bond, Mary Kathryn Bryant, Barry Clifton, Christopher R Ellis and Raeden Greer.

Filmmakers Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s Mouse is a film of the highest caliber, setting itself in 2002, where two friends are separated by tragedy. Anyone who has seen Good Will Hunting will appreciate all the references to that movie that Mouse includes in it, and it’s a testament to the quality of Mouse to say that the script for this new picture, written by O’Sullivan, is just as strong as the Oscar-winning script for the 1997 movie, Good Will Hunting. This new picture’s main character is named Minnie, played by the wonderful Katherine Mallen Kupferer, and Minnie is good at math, but awkward in almost every other department. Her best friend is Callie Bell (Chloe Coleman), a more outgoing and somewhat more determined girl. Mouse establishes their connection right from the get-go, and then tears out the heart of the viewer shortly thereafter.

Mouse is initially about two teenage girls, Minnie (perhaps named after Minnie Driver of Good Will Hunting?) and Callie, enjoying what life has to offer, and coping with their colorful way of life, including the personalities of the other local teens who surround them. Michelle Branch’s hit song plays on the radio in the car, and the scene in the car foreshadows that something may happen to one of these girls while riding in a car later on. Something happens that rips Minnie apart emotionally, and she starts to get closer to Callie’s suffering mom, Helen (Sophie Okonedo), a woman who works locally and has a very big heart.

A large part of the emotional power found in Mouse derives from the scenes between Okonedo and Kupferer’s characters. A classmate of Minnie’s suggests honoring the memory of the departed by putting on a show, and that leads to Minnie trying to do something she’s never been able to do well before – sing. Okonedo and Kupferer play off each other with tremendous precision, offering audiences a bond between two unrelated people, brought together by tragic circumstances. Conversations between Minnie and Helen are expertly written as the two characters inspire one another. 

Mouse could have been depressing, and it’s very sad at times, but it is also uplifting and funny, too. Minnie meets a video store clerk named Kat (Iman Vellani in an endearing supporting performance), and they form a relationship after Minnie learns that Kat has also been affected by an unimaginable loss. Minnie’s awkward mom, Barbara (the terrific Tara Mallen), doesn’t seem to have the sincerity of Helen, but something happens that makes Barbara wake up towards the end, and Mallen and Okonedo share the film’s single best scene. This part of the movie is proof that two very different women can come together, despite their differences, for their love for Minnie.

It’s true that Mouse deals with coping mechanisms in a way Good Will Hunting did. Minnie is confident in the math she does, but lacks self-esteem. She’s not equipped to sing, but gets an opportunity to shine for just a moment despite her lackluser abilities in a moving sequence late in the picture. Minnie copes with the loss of her friend by surrounding herself with people, including Helen and Kat, just the way Will surrounded himself with Skylar, Sean and his buddies in Good Will Hunting to escape the abuse/tragedy he faced in his own life. There’s also the amusing use of, “How do you like them apples?” from the 1997 movie to put a smile on viewers’ faces as well.

Chloe Coleman is radiant in some more of the best moments of the picture as Callie. Coleman projects goodness and kindness in her performance and her scenes with Kupferer are deeply profound and touching. What follows wouldn’t move viewers as much if Coleman wasn’t so perfect in the film’s earlier scenes.

Mouse shines in its exploration of finding new beginnings after tragedy. From Helen dealing with support groups to Minnie’s own inability to accept that she still can live a normal life in Callie’s absence, the movie is always right on the money with caring sincerity put into every scene and into every conversation that takes place in the movie. Another nod to the 1997 film has Minnie wanting to go to California, just like Minnie Driver’s character in the original classic movie.

In the final analysis, Mouse is excellent. This film features a quartet of amazing performances that should not be forgotten collectively by awards groups at the end of the year. Okonedo, Kupferer, Coleman and Mallen make this movie rise above the levels of your everyday drama, and the film is sharply written with observations about life that will heal moviegoers who have suffered loss in their lives. Thompson and O’Sullivan are to be credited for bringing a layered movie full of humanity and compassion into fruition. Those are two things that we need to see much more of in today’s pictures. This is a great film.

Rating: 9.5/10        

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