The Toxic Avenger (2023)

Under all the green goo, The Toxic Avenger is a furious little satire about medical bills, and it never once pretends to be subtle. Peter Dinklage plays Winston Gooze, a janitor at a shady drug company who can’t afford treatment for his own illness, and when the smirking company owner (Kevin Bacon) won’t help, a botched break-in leaves Winston green, mutated and holding a mop like it’s a sword. Dinklage voices the mutated hero while Luisa Guerreiro wears the suit, and somehow he keeps the guy sad, sweet and funny all at once. Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood play the Garbinger brothers as corporate greed with the volume all the way up. Jacob Tremblay grounds it as the stepson who isn’t sold on Winston yet. The jokes come fast and plenty miss, and the villains are such cartoons that the satire turns blunt. A 6.5 because Dinklage gives a ridiculous movie a real heart. $4,909 says you read the fine print on your next medical bill and hear Kevin Bacon’s voice.

What works: Peter Dinklage finds real sadness and warmth inside a cartoon, and the satire of a drug company that prices out its own janitor has real teeth.

What doesn’t: The humor is hit-or-miss, and the corporate villains are drawn so broadly that the satire loses its bite.

Who it’s for: Grown-up fans of cult comedies who like their satire loud, weird and completely unashamed.