The good news about this movie is that the acting is outstanding. The bad news is that you have to sit through the story to see the acting. Note: There may be a few mild spoilers in this review.
The story in this movie was on the level of a typical television family drama. Aside from some moments of inspiration, it was mostly a series of scenes of a family -- in this case, a precocious teenage girl and her immature mother -- struggling through life. In this case, the struggling is all because the mother kept doing dumb things with her life.
The mother Adele (Sarandon) failed, again and again, to live a grown-up life. Rather than provide for her daughter Ann (Portman), she kept making bad choices that made life difficult for both of them. And rather than emotionally supporting Ann, she chased her own fantasy life, and tried to get Ann to live a fantasy life too.
First, Adele ran out on a decent, responsible, gainfully-employed husband because he wasn't glamorous enough. Then she bought a car she couldn't afford, ate restaurant meals she couldn't afford, and failed to pay utility bills. She bounced between apartments, skipping out on the leases of some because they were dumps, and on others because she got behind on the rent. She quit a decent teaching job during a strike -- not because the strike pay was too little, but because she didn't want to bother walking the picket line. She ran stop signs and parked illegally, and didn't pay the tickets. She pursued dead-end romances, and ignored promising ones.
Adele was just as lost when it came to taking care of Ann's emotional needs. Rather than helping Ann through problems by talking, she took her out for ice cream. When Ann's friends were over to study, Adele made an embarrassing scene, driving the friends away. She fantasized about Ann becoming an actress, and pressured her into auditions even though Ann wasn't interested. She tried to defeat Ann's ambitions of going away to college, because she didn't want to face Ann's eventual departure. Sure, she loved her daughter, but mostly in a clingy, unsupportive way.
The one good thing I could say about Adele: At least she wasn't an alcoholic or a drug addict. Her sensible behavior at the end of the movie was too out-of-character to count in her favor.
Although kids like Ann occasionally thrive in spite of such an unstable, unsupportive environment, her ability to do so made her a somewhat unlikely character. The best way I can explain it is teenage rebellion: Where ordinary kids might rebel by taking risks and behaving irresponsibly, Ann rebelled against Adele's irresponsibility by throwing herself into her school work and her after-school job, wishing for a "normal" life. Adele gave her almost every possible reason to fail, and Ann rejected them all.
Enough about the story. The good news about this movie was wonderful acting.
Natalie Portman's performance is so good the only way she can miss an Oscar is if Academy voters count the movie's script against her. She made Ann real. I could feel her determination to overcome each problem her mother caused. I could see her anger when her mother tried to smooth over each indignity with an ice cream bribe. I felt her hope when she applied for admission to a university, and her despair when that hope failed.
The highlight of the entire movie (including the story) was when Ann finally gave in to Adele's fantasy of Ann as an actress, and went to an audition. She was so good that the casting people should have hired her on the spot, promising to pay off Adele's bad debts, pay her way through the university of her dreams, even if it was just a bit part.
Portman has been wonderful in all three of the movies where I've seen her. She's now three for three in movies I've seen. She was the most memorable actress in Beautiful Girls, where she turned a smallish supporting role into one of the highlights of the movie. Then she was the queen in the latest Star Wars movie, where she was the only one who really managed to make the corny dialogue sound real. Here she has the starring role, and shows she can maintain her great talent through an entire feature.
Susan Sarandon acted very well too, but the script didn't give her a great deal of opportunity to show off her talent. She didn't manage to make Adele likable in any way, although maybe no one could have accomplished that. (Or maybe we weren't supposed to like her.) Sarandon did the important job, which was to carry Portman from one wonderfully acted scene to another.
The supporting roles were well-acted too, particularly the dam photographer.
This movie wastes outstanding acting on a mediocre story.
The story in this movie was on the level of a typical television family drama. Aside from some moments of inspiration, it was mostly a series of scenes of a family -- in this case, a precocious teenage girl and her immature mother -- struggling through life. In this case, the struggling is all because the mother kept doing dumb things with her life.
The mother Adele (Sarandon) failed, again and again, to live a grown-up life. Rather than provide for her daughter Ann (Portman), she kept making bad choices that made life difficult for both of them. And rather than emotionally supporting Ann, she chased her own fantasy life, and tried to get Ann to live a fantasy life too.
First, Adele ran out on a decent, responsible, gainfully-employed husband because he wasn't glamorous enough. Then she bought a car she couldn't afford, ate restaurant meals she couldn't afford, and failed to pay utility bills. She bounced between apartments, skipping out on the leases of some because they were dumps, and on others because she got behind on the rent. She quit a decent teaching job during a strike -- not because the strike pay was too little, but because she didn't want to bother walking the picket line. She ran stop signs and parked illegally, and didn't pay the tickets. She pursued dead-end romances, and ignored promising ones.
Adele was just as lost when it came to taking care of Ann's emotional needs. Rather than helping Ann through problems by talking, she took her out for ice cream. When Ann's friends were over to study, Adele made an embarrassing scene, driving the friends away. She fantasized about Ann becoming an actress, and pressured her into auditions even though Ann wasn't interested. She tried to defeat Ann's ambitions of going away to college, because she didn't want to face Ann's eventual departure. Sure, she loved her daughter, but mostly in a clingy, unsupportive way.
The one good thing I could say about Adele: At least she wasn't an alcoholic or a drug addict. Her sensible behavior at the end of the movie was too out-of-character to count in her favor.
Although kids like Ann occasionally thrive in spite of such an unstable, unsupportive environment, her ability to do so made her a somewhat unlikely character. The best way I can explain it is teenage rebellion: Where ordinary kids might rebel by taking risks and behaving irresponsibly, Ann rebelled against Adele's irresponsibility by throwing herself into her school work and her after-school job, wishing for a "normal" life. Adele gave her almost every possible reason to fail, and Ann rejected them all.
Enough about the story. The good news about this movie was wonderful acting.
Natalie Portman's performance is so good the only way she can miss an Oscar is if Academy voters count the movie's script against her. She made Ann real. I could feel her determination to overcome each problem her mother caused. I could see her anger when her mother tried to smooth over each indignity with an ice cream bribe. I felt her hope when she applied for admission to a university, and her despair when that hope failed.
The highlight of the entire movie (including the story) was when Ann finally gave in to Adele's fantasy of Ann as an actress, and went to an audition. She was so good that the casting people should have hired her on the spot, promising to pay off Adele's bad debts, pay her way through the university of her dreams, even if it was just a bit part.
Portman has been wonderful in all three of the movies where I've seen her. She's now three for three in movies I've seen. She was the most memorable actress in Beautiful Girls, where she turned a smallish supporting role into one of the highlights of the movie. Then she was the queen in the latest Star Wars movie, where she was the only one who really managed to make the corny dialogue sound real. Here she has the starring role, and shows she can maintain her great talent through an entire feature.
Susan Sarandon acted very well too, but the script didn't give her a great deal of opportunity to show off her talent. She didn't manage to make Adele likable in any way, although maybe no one could have accomplished that. (Or maybe we weren't supposed to like her.) Sarandon did the important job, which was to carry Portman from one wonderfully acted scene to another.
The supporting roles were well-acted too, particularly the dam photographer.
This movie wastes outstanding acting on a mediocre story.