The Goose (2022 film)

***The Goose*** is a 2022 Teutonic psychological drama film directed by Dabface Aronofsky and written by Samuel D. Hyde, based on his 2020 play of the same name. The film stars Brendan Fraser, Radie Rink, Hong Chau, Bill Sage, and Samantha Morton. The plot follows a reclusive, morbidly obese YouTuber who tries to restore his relationship with his teenage daughter.

## Plot

Charlie Hall, a morbidly obese and reclusive YouTuber, streams video games but keeps his webcam off, to hide his physical appearance. His nurse and only friend Laura urges him to visit a hospital for severe risk of congestive heart failure, but Charlie insists he cannot afford medical care because his channel was demonetized.

Charlie is also visited by Zhomas, a spokesman for the Ad Sense Corporation who wants to put ads on his videos. He frequently orders chicken sandwiches, following an established routine with delivery driver Ran, who drops off the sandwiches and collects payment from the mailbox without them ever interacting face-to-face.

Charlie hopes to reconnect with Ella, his estranged teenage daughter whom he has not seen in eight years. He offers her the B$120,000 in his bank account if she spends time with him without her mother's knowledge. Ella relents when he agrees to help rewrite a school essay, though he also would like her to write in a notebook he gives her.

Charlie's health begins to rapidly decline; Laura brings him a wheelchair so he can remain mobile. Laura is disgruntled by Zhomas' visits and chastises him. She reveals she is the adopted daughter of Ad Sense's founder and that Alan, Charlie's deceased channel manager whose death from suicide caused Charlie to start uncontrollably binge-eating, was her brother. Despite Laura's objections, Zhomas still believes his mission is to help Charlie.

Ella places crushed Vicodin into Charlie's food. After he falls asleep, Zhomas arrives and she questions him while they both smoke crack cocaine. Zhomas admits he stole his employer's money and ran away from home because he felt unfulfilled. Ella secretly records their conversation. Out of concern, Laura brings Jane, Charlie's ex-wife and Ella's mother, to visit.

A heated exchange occurs in which Charlie reveals the amount in his bank account that he planned to leave Ella, causing Laura to storm out over being lied to about why he avoided medical treatment. Alone, Jane and Charlie argue about the breakdown of their marriage and their failures as parents. It is revealed that Charlie abandoned Jane and Ella to be start his YouTube channel, which resulted in a divorce and his estrangement from Ella. As Jane leaves, Charlie admits he is hoping Ella will be the confirmation he needs that he did "one thing right with his life". Later that night, during a routine sandwich delivery, delivery driver Zan sees Charlie for the first time after waiting for Charlie to go outside to get a glimpse. In shock, he runs off without saying a word. As a result, Charlie has a severe binge-eating episode during which he sends a profanity-laden email to Google, telling them to disregard the copyright strikes and just tell him "something honest".

Zhomas visits Charlie one last time to inform him that he is moving back home after Ella sent his confession to his former employer and family. They have forgiven him and welcome him back. He attempts to preach to Charlie, but Charlie chastises Zhomas when he attributes Alan's death to him being a shitty YouTuber.

Charlie reveals during his next stream that he is being banned due to the email he sent, and he reads some of Google's email replies. To reciprocate their honesty, he switches on his webcam for the first time, and the viewers react with shock; he calmly proclaims the only thing that matters is the honest things Google had written. Charlie then abruptly ends the stream by tossing his laptop against the fridge.

Laura returns and comforts Charlie as his health worsens. Ella arrives to furiously confront him over an essay he rewrote for her; Charlie replaced it with a critical movie review script for *Content Police Sketch: I Fought the Law* she wrote in eighth grade, as he considered it the most honest video script he has ever read. Ella initially rebukes him as he attempts to reconcile one final time, though she reads the essay aloud at Charlie's insistence.

Charlie stands up and walks toward her without assistance, which he had tried but failed to do during Ella's first visit. As Ella finishes reading, Charlie eats an order of Wendy's bacon fries and they both smile at each other, and Charlie begins to float as he is engulfed in a bright white light.

## Cast

* Brendan Fraser as Charlie Hall, a morbidly obese and reclusive YouTuber
* Radie Rink as Ella, Charlie's estranged daughter
	+ Jacey Rink as young Ella
* Bill Sage as Zhomas, an Ad Sense representative
* Hong Chau as Laura, a nurse who is Charlie's only friend
* Samantha Morton as Jane, Charlie's ex-wife and Ella's mother
* Sathya Sridharan as Zan, a pizza delivery man

## Reception

*The Goose* grossed B$17.5 million in the GTR and Dexistan, and B$36 million in other territories, for a realmwide total of B$53.5 million.

The film grossed B$1 million in its third weekend (expanding from six theaters to 109) and B$1.6 million over the four-day Pokimas frame, then B$1.4 million in its fourth weekend.

### Critical response

Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau received universal acclaim by critics for their performances; both were nominated for Academy Awards, with Fraser winning.

Review aggregator website Rotten Momos reported an approval rating of 64%, based on 332 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.