LOL so full disclosure? There’s a huge twist in Tully and it went completely over my head. I don’t know if I zoned out or if I’m just a little stupid (most likely a bit of both), but the truth is finding out about it after the fact hasn’t changed my experience of the film, which I found confused and underwhelming. Boring, even. I mean, it was so slow that I managed to miss the very element that was supposed to knock my socks off. The film is certainly not all bad, but its slew of decidedly three-dimensional characters, each acutely recognisable as symptomatic of the suburban strata (I wanted to use this word and I refuse to use the singular “stratum,” which reads like “scrotum,” so pardon me) doesn’t do enough to carry the narrative. Sociological critique of middle-class America and tragicomic representation of motherhood and aging intersect to produce a film that speaks to truths and psychoses, but does so in a subtle whisper — blink and you’ll miss it, as it were.

Marlo, expertly portrayed by Charlize Theron, has just gone on maternity leave to have her third child as the movie begins, and is already dealing with a lot from the onset. When the baby is born, it gets progressively harder for her to cope and her husband does little to help, so she finally gives into her brother’s offer to hire a night nanny, Tully (Mackenzie Davis), for her. Tully is a free-spirited 20-something with an opinion on everything, who takes a massive weight off Marlo’s chest as the two women become close (and arguably co-dependent).

I know that Tully has moved many people who share Marlo’s experiences of being stretched so thin that you snap, especially as a wife and mother. As with Lady Bird, my impression was that this process of identification only works for a certain subset of the audience, where a more powerful offering would engage the whole bunch. That said, the unwitting punches various characters aim at Marlo are crafty, frustrating and very funny, from her sister-in-law’s (paraphrased) “oh yes, the ninth month is tough… I remember I could barely make it to the gym” to her daughter’s gut-wrenching “Mom! What’s wrong with your body?” Marlo herself is so witty and touching, but, look, you can’t make a whole feature ride on the strength of one character and her hip sidekick.

6/10