I was invited to a screening and director Q&A. This film is much artier and obtuse than I expected. The central family is nameless. So we must simply refer to them as Mother, Father, Son for shorthand. Mother is a frustrated former artist, complete with MFA. She's now a frustrated stay at home mom with a two year old terror. He's blonde; mom is a redhead and dad has brown hair. This was a real annoyance for me. Dad has some important job involving travel and goes away for a week at a time. Director Heller is more interested in the magic realism part of the screenplay than giving us any details. I loved the scene that she has with her former classmates, all successes to some degree. She may as well be a fly on the restaurant wall. I also enjoyed Mother's scenes with dogs, which are plentiful. Apparently each of the three main dogs corresponds physically to one of her friends.
Amy Adams is absolutely amazing in the role. But I kept picturing Amy Schumer in the role! I felt that the film is beneath her. She should be in obvious Academy Award level fare, not this experimental lunacy. Scoot McNairy is fine as her shlub hubby. This is one unattractive couple on the big screen. Who says Hollywood is all about glamour? Zoe Chao as one of her mom friends is a dazzling beauty completely stealing every second of her screen time. Mary Holland and Archana Rajan are entertaining as her other mom friends. Jessica Harper is fantastic as Norma the librarian. The director tried to hide the setting, but it was obviously LA. Apparently it was only filmed there because AA lives there. I didn't hate the film, but I came away disappointed by Adams' choice to do it. Being the top dog lead is a big deal. However, this seems like a waste of her talent. I wanted to howl at the sky afterwards too.
