This film was written by a man; a fact which is confounding to me because every male character in this film was an antagonist, unless they were a homosexual 10 year-old. The school principal is preposterously unqualified and the father is meak and pathetic and doesn't seem to understand anything; the basic formula for a Lifetime production. This film deals with many issues I feel parents can relate to, but deal with them in a way that seems overplayed. Felicity Huffman's character, as the mother, takes her daughter to a psychiatrist. When he tries to prescribe her meds (part of the job description of a psychiatrist) she blows up, with all the rhetorical and tired complaints everyone has heard so many times about medicating and "kids these days". If you want to find your daughter help sans drugs, just take her to a therapist and stop bitching. Undoubtedly, Elle Fanning as a child with Tourette syndrome, is adorable, and surprisingly (to me) performed on the same level as her talented female co-stars. You can't blame the actors for a melodramatic script, they certainly pulled it off and I was authentically touched on more than one occasion. But in the end, this film could have gone straight to television, and I doubt anyone would have noticed, particularly the theatre I went to, wherein I was the only attendee.
Review of Phoebe in Wonderland
