The Corner Penthouse

Universal Pictures recently released the My Dead Friend Zoe (2025) Blu-ray. Read on to find out more about it...

[ SYNOPSIS ]

The journey of Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green), a U.S. Army veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Natalie Morales), her dead best friend from the Army. Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor (Morgan Freeman) and the tough love of her mother (Gloria Reuben), Merit's cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. That is until Merit's estranged grandfather (Ed Harris) begins to lose his way and is in need of the one thing he refuses...help.

[ SPECIFICATIONS ]

The movie is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:42:32. The movie has been rated R for language. Audio languages include English, English Descriptive. Subtitle languages include English SDH, Spanish, French.

[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]

All of the content listed below can be found on the Blu-ray disc. The film is based on the short film Merit x Zoe (2022), which isn't included here, though it should have been. Click to view the short's trailer.

• A Veteran's Story: The Journey of MDFZ (14:48)
• Deleted Scene: "Bird Feeder" (1:56)
• Deleted Scene: "Goodwill" (0:52)

[ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ]

A digital copy code voucher is included inside the standard one-disc blue Blu-ray case.

[ NOTES ]

My Dead Friend Zoe (2025) is available on Blu-ray, and DVD. The film is described on the case as "a dark comedy drama", but that is misleading. It's a drama with a few comedic lines of dialog here and there, mostly thanks to Zoe. Don't go into this expecting a laugh riot. Instead, have a box of tissues handy as there is a heartbreaking revelation at the end.

As a fun little aside... I went into this film because of the beautiful Natalie Morales, whom I've liked ever since she was in The Middleman (2008). That was one of MANY failed television shows that she's been in. Not a joke. Many of the shows she's been in - especially if she's in the main cast - never lasted past one season. Some examples include The Middleman (2008), The Cape (2011), Trophy Wife (2013), The Grinder (2015), Powerless (2017), Imaginary Mary (2017), Alex Inc. (2018), Abby's (2019), Sunnyside (2019), and Mr. Mayor (2021); that last one technically lasted two seasons - but they were very short seasons. Quitters (2008) never made it past the pilot stage, and then there's White Collar (2009). The showrunners, presumably assuming Natalie would kill the show, slowly wrote her out of the show as the first season progressed. When the show came back for the second season, a new character played by Marsha Thomason was added, essentially serving the same role as Natalie's character. So, Natalie Morales (not to be confused with the NBC impostor), is sort of the modern-day "shark-jumping" equivalent of Alison LaPlaca.

This item has been provided by Universal Pictures for review on this site.