I am not in the position to say motherhood is easy but I believe other women saying that it is not easy because I heard in some cases that being a mother, especially who had a firstborn or three little ones, is a full-time job. Now, we have yet to the explore the psychological awareness of how difficult motherhood can be. Yes, it is a magical chapter to both a woman's and family's life to have another generation of your legacy be in your household. But, even with a first child, it is a tough transition with the overnight feedings and exhaustion. Hey, it is life. Director Jason Reitman and Charlize Theron reunite, after their first collaboration making the solid Young Adult, focus on the joy and arduous work of motherhood that it fully captures the honesty and social astuteness around people and children. It dares to go where we have not gone before and it almost succeeds completely.
Marlo (Charlize Theron), who is nine months pregnant with her third child, is an overworked mother taking care of her autistic son, Jonah (Asher Miles Fallica) and her daughter, Sarah (Lia Frankland). Jonah throws a tantrum over a specific parking lot at school before Marlo manages to calm him down. Marlo goes to meet with the principal, Laurie (Gameela Wright) and she tells Marlo that his "quirky" behavior is being difficult and with Laurie suggesting Marlo to have an aide for him.
Meanwhile, while both Marlo and Drew (Ron Livingson), her husband, goes to her brother, Craig's (Mark Duplass) home and Craig suggests that they hire a night nanny to help with the baby and Jonah is too much to deal with. Later, Marlo's water breaks and she goes to the hospital as the baby arrives. She gives birth to a baby girl named Mia and she becomes exhausted as she preps for Mia as she pumps breast milk, changes diapers and tending to the baby whenever she cries. After putting Sarah and Jonah to bed, Marlo is greeted by Tully (Mackenzie Davis). She tends to the children and chats with Marlo about motherhood and life itself. Her services are helping Marlo re-think about her life.
The clear winner is the dialogue because it is a truthful and sincere reality of the stages of a woman's life regarding not just motherhood but youth. There are two transitions in the movie that capitalize the movie, one more successful than the other. When Marlo has a moment with Drew afterwards, she glows with liveliness as people notice her and also when she has a night out on the town. And, the other transition is a spoiler but I will say it does not execute as well because even though I admit that narrative twist was ambitious, it felt like the movie was already great that that twist was unnecessary. It makes sense from a psychological point of view but it takes away a little bit of the spirit of the movie.
Charlize Theron gives a razor-sharp and complex performance that reaches the levels of humor, frustration and exhaustion to a whole other level. It is quite arguably the most honest portrayal of a mother on-screen in recent years. I know it is early for Oscar talk but I think her performance qualifies for an Oscar nomination if they campaign it right and re-release the movie to make it more noticeable and fresh in voters' minds. She and Mackenzie Davis develop a solid chemistry that blossoms into something more deep as it sort of combines the wisdom of youthful and older generations of how a woman will be in their stage of their life. Also, Ron Livingston (where has he been?) and Mark Duplass give some solid performances.
Director Jason Reitman is back after a dodgy couple of movies with the deplorable Men, Women and Children and the forgettable romantic drama, Labor Day. It seems that he is back in his comfort zone with personal stories surrounding a subject like Juno with youth and teen pregnancy and Up in the Air with routine and mid-age life in the air. He wanted to capture motherhood in a realistic way as much as possible as yes, there is magic within motherhood but isolation, bitterness and weariness in the stage especially after three children. This would be a good double feature with either Juno or the underrated Ron Howard movie, Parenthood, both strong movies. It is a very good, humorous, sharp and truthful portrait of motherhood, elevated by Reitman's direction and Theron's extraordinary performance.
***1/2
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