TULLY

Director: Jason Reitman

2018, US, 95, R

Screenwriter: Diablo Cody

Cast: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass.

 

Winning an Academy Award for her role in Monster, Charlize Theron convinced audiences she was a gifted dramatic actor. Fifteen years later, Theron reminds audiences how good she is, in a perfect showcase by the duo who made Juno: director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody. Theron plays a woman with three kids, including a newborn, who is hit by post-partum depression. Her brother (Mark Duplass) hires Tully, a night nanny played by Mackenzie Davis (Black Mirror), to help out. The nanny is a Millennial Mary Poppins who has the carefree, quirky, and joyful spirit of a young woman without children, a mortgage, or husband. Is Tully too good to be true? Theron’s weary mother is too relieved to care.

“An emotionally deep rumination on the nature of modern motherhood, on the inherently false premise of doing it all, of having it all and making it look good.” Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service.