36/36
Tale
A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn
Was originally meant to be released straight-to-streaming on Hulu, but the strong reception from test screenings prompted Searchlight Pictures to instead give it a wide theatrical release
Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (2024)
Riding Carousel"Performed by Alexander McCabeWritten by Alexander McCabe
Rating – 52: Overall, a pretty bad movie that just feels like it was made for 'Booktok'; Amy Adams can only do so much given how dumb the story is, despite its strong messages about the struggles of motherhoodDirection – Pretty Bad: The direction on a macroscale is very simple and feel-good, makes it feel like this movie was made explicitly for "Booktok" ; the direction on a microscale is very bland, forced, and simple; the storytelling is incredibly simple and bland as it reads like a mother reading this story back to meStory – Bad: The concept is actually very dumb, and it is obvious this movie was made for 'Booktok' because the book is a 'Booktok' book; not only is the concept dumb, they do a bad job actually introducing it and showing its importance because it only feels like a small detail throughout the movie; the plot structure is very plain and simple; the character writing is pretty good, even though it is very overt, because the main character is a symbol for the struggles with motherhood and how it is ok not to be the perfect momScreenplay – Pretty Bad: The dialogue is simple, bland, and written as if it were for "Booktok" ; the dialogue is so bad that there is literally a scene within the first 20 minutes of the movie where the main character says "I am Nightbitch" ; the humor is fine, but very forced; the symbolism is profound, as the whole movie is about the struggles of motherhood and accepting that nothing is a model mom or person; the foreshadowing is only there because the movie is very formulaicActing – Pretty Good: Amy Adams – Good (Her performance is only good because she’s Amy Adams; she’s given nothing to work with), Scoot McNairy – Pretty Good (Has pretty good chemistry with Adams and does a good job showing their one-sided dynamic), Rest of the cast – Decent (A lot of background actors, who are fine, mainly just support Adams)Cinematography – Decent: SimpleEditing – Decent : SimpleVisual Effects – Pretty Bad: Pretty tackyPacing – The pacing is a little slow because the narration moves the story forwardClimax – The climax is pretty forcedTone – The tone feels very much like this movie was made for "Booktok"Final Notes – Saw premiere at the Austin Film Festival; It is obvious who this movie is for, I am clearly not the target demographic; This was supposed to be the movie that saved Amy Adams, not destroyed her
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