Tully (2018)

We were predisposed to like this dramedy about a woman with post-partum depression hiring a night nanny to care for her newborn and we did love it. Charlize Theron is terrific as the overwhelmed heroine Marlo (she was last blogged for Mad Max: Fury Road and had many nominations and wins for that role) as is Mackenzie Davis (most recently in these pages for Blade Runner 2049 right around the time the last of her 40 episodes of Halt and Catch Fire aired) as the luminous Tully. Ron Livingston (last blogged for Dinner for Schmucks) and Mark Duplass (most recently in Beatriz at Dinner) are Marlo's husband Drew and brother Craig, respectively. It's also important to note that Marlo and Craig have two other children, one of whom seems to me to be on the autism spectrum, but is only referred to as "quirky," just as the word "depression" is not used, as I recall.

Theron, a willowy former model, has taken issue with people calling her "brave" for gaining fifty pounds in four months for this role (it took her 18 months to lose it!). In this interview, she discusses the process and compares it to the thirty she gained for her Oscar-winning role in Monster (2003).

Director Jason Reitman (after helming Men, Women & Children he produced the Hulu series Casual and directed several of its episodes) worked with screenwriter Diablo Cody (last blogged for Ricki and the Flash) and Charlize Theron on Young Adult, which we also loved. It was funny and so is this. There is a montage of the baby crying over and over that had me laughing a lot.

Rob Simonsen (most recently in these pages for Going in Style) gives us a nice indie-style soundtrack, some of which can be streamed from this spotify playlist. The iTunes soundtrack, with 14 songs in 28 minutes, has under eight minutes of Simonsen's work. The longest track is on youtube.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 87% and its audiences 71. Jack and I whole-heartedly recommend you see this. After seeing it, and ONLY AFTER, read this spoiler article.