M3GAN,

The essence of genre is effects without causes--things showing up to fulfill expectations rather than dramatic necessities. "M3GAN," a science-fiction-based horror caper, provides a clever batch of these effects in this gleefully clever twist on the "Frankenstein" theme, and its director, Gerard Johnstone, seems to be laughing up his sleeve throughout. It's that very knowingness, the deftness with which the film gets a rise from viewers, which makes a good time feel hollow. There's a different, far more substantial movie lurking within, yet the virtues of efficiency, clarity, surprise, and wit that enliven the one that's actually onscreen leave its merely implied substance tantalizingly unformed. Allison Williams plays Gemma, a type-A robotics engineer with a big toy company in Seattle, Funki, that prospers by selling cheesily interactive furry toys called PurrPetual Petz.