PARK CITY – Over the past decade, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody have collaborated on the celebrated dramedy “Juno,” and the cult dark comedy “Young Adult.” The filmmaker and Oscar-winning screenwriter have reunited with the star of the latter, Charlize Theron, for “Tully,” which had its World Premiere with a sneak screening at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Thursday night. The film is a welcome comeback for Reitman, Cody, and Theron.
Set somewhere in the suburbs of New York City, a very pregnant Marlo (Theron) is barely making it through her maternity leave with the responsibility of caring for her eight-year-old daughter Sarah (Lia Frankland) and 5-year-old son Jonah (Asher Miles Fallicia), who has “quirky” behavioral issues. Her husband Drew (Ron Livingston) helps the kids with their homework, but is preoccupied by his day job, and after the kids goes to bed spends most nights zonked in front of the TV playing video games. The fortysomething Marlo’s stress is only exacerbated when the private school that Jonah is attending informs her they believe he needs a personal aide to truly adjust to his surroundings, something neither she nor Drew can afford.
Much to her surprise, Marlo’s well-off brother (Mark Duplass) makes her an offer he hopes will help his “old sister” come back. Instead of contributing money to celebrate his new niece or nephew, he’ll pay for a night nanny to help Marlo when the baby is born. Marlo is skeptical, but after a few horrendous nights and days trying to balance two children and a newborn she calls the number the night nanny.
No, Mary Poppins doesn’t show up at her door, but the energetic and whimsical Tully (Mackenzie Davis) does. Marlo is still skeptical of what Tully offers (does she really need someone to bring her daughter to her in bed to be breastfed?), but she immediately gets her best night’s sleep in months and awakens to find the house clean as a whistle. As the days and weeks progress, Tully is full of constant encouragement and random factoids. At one point Marlo deadpans that she’s like “a book of fun facts for unpopular fourth graders.”
Marlo quickly comes to depend on Tully and her mood and demeanor completely turn around. One night Tully insists on taking her out on the town and the pair head to Brooklyn for a drink in what turns out to be Marlo’s old neighborhood. Tully obviously can’t stay forever, and how Marlo reacts to that news is paramount.
Theron, who appears to have gained a significant amount of weight for the role, conveys Marlo’s transformation from the beginning to the end of the picture with fantastic subtlety. She elicits genuine empathy for her character even though what she’s going through is, at first glance, pretty commonplace. Cody’s dialogue is often so biting it can be delivered with severe sarcasm, but Theron understands the softer tone Reitman is going for and adjusts to it beautifully.
Davis portrays Tully with an exuberant optimism that seems slightly atypical for a 26-year-old, but her chemistry with Theron somehow makes it work. Much of who Tully is remains a mystery but Davis makes you believe she’s already lived an extraordinary enough life, so her character’s words of wisdom resonate as they should.
Reitman is often at his best when he can join forces with an exceptional actor, and Theron once again helps with the heavy lifting. With “Tully,” the director also fashions some wonderfully constructed montage sequences that are more creative than the term “montage sequences” might imply. The detailed editing during these pockets in the movie allow Reitman to push the story forward without the burden of unnecessary exposition.
As for Cody, this is the second screenplay in a row after the underrated “Ricki and the Flash” where her textbook quick wit hast been slightly tempered to avoid distracting from the overall storytelling. She’s still absolutely capable of gifting a character with a deadpan response when it’s needed (Theron benefits from this the most), but the subject matter is absolutely front and center first. In that regard “Tully,” is a portrait of a woman at a crossroads with her family and how she’s going to move forward with them after the new addition. Cody knows her screenplay had to be innovative enough to make that familiar subject matter compelling. The result will feel slight to some and fresh to others, but, most importantly, it never overstays its welcome. [B+]
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