‘Marriage Story’ Is A Halloween Movie

Normal brain: Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Expanding brain: Spider-Man (2002) is a Thanksgiving movie. Galaxy brain: Marriage Story is a Halloween movie.

That’s right, I said it. The best Halloween movie on Netflix is Noah Baumbach’s 2019 Oscar-winning drama about divorce, Marriage Story, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.

Does Marriage Story have horror elements? Not really. Does Marriage Story have magical elements? None whatsoever. Does Marriage Story have ghosts? Only the ghosts of relationships past. And yet, Marriage Story is unequivocally a Halloween movie. Change my mind.

Though Marriage Story is decidedly not a horror movie (unless you’ve been through a divorce, in which case, maybe it is) a significant portion of the film does take place on Halloween—two of them, in fact. The first Halloween comes at the beginning of the film when Driver and Johansson’s characters, Charlie and Nicole, are in the process of getting divorced. The second Halloween comes at the end of the film, when the divorce is finalized. In both cases, the holiday represents who has power in their relationship with their son. In the first, Charlie is trying to force his son Henry (Azhy Robertson) to devote as much time to him as he gave to his mom. In the second, Charlie realizes he has to go along with Nicole if he wants to be a part of his son’s life—especially the trick-or-treating part of it.

In other words: Halloween is a big freakin’ deal in Marriage Story. Ergo, Marriage Story is a Halloween movie. If you’ve seen the movie, you know I’m right. And if you haven’t seen the movie, I have proof. Allow me to expand with visual aids.

Exhibit A: This epic drag of trick-or-treating in Los Angeles.

No one should be trick-or-treating in the year God forsook us, 2020. But apparently, when it’s not a pandemic, people in LA trick-or-treat by car?  Meaning they have to deal with parking on the spookiest day of the year? Absolutely not.

Exhibit B: Adam Driver’s Invisible Man costume.

Exhibit C: Scarlett Johansson’s David Bowie costume.

Exhibit D: This universal move for “the end of a successful Halloween.”

Later, when Henry dumps out his pumpkin full of the candy he got on his second trick-or-treating run with Dad, only a few pieces of candy fall out. Ouch.

Exhibit E: Adam Driver carrying coffee in orange cups.

This is not inherently Halloween-themed, per se, but it’s definitely a spooky vibe. (If you’re curious, the cups are from Mud Truck, as spotted by Decider Managing Editor Alex Zalben.)

Exhibit F: Adam Driver dressed up as the world’s saddest ghost while the rest of his family is dressed up as Sgt. Pepper.

This moment is particularly sad for Charlie, because at the beginning of the film, his son backed out of the father-son group costume he’d had planned to be Frankenstein and the Invisible Man. The symbolism… the spookiness… it is simply off the charts. Adam Sandler who?!

Marriage Story is a Halloween movie. I rest my case.

Watch Marriage Story on Netflix