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Tully

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      It is difficult to review Tully fairly and avoid revealing the hidden concept behind the plot. To me Tully was really two different movies.
      On one hand you have a genuine struggle with 21st century motherhood that most mothers today, older or younger, can find some identification with. These real life perils, amply demonstrated in the ads and trailers for the film, are engagingly portrayed by Charlize Theron.
      She gives a convincing performance of a mother in the last week of the pregnancy of her third child and the post-partum stress that combines raising an infant with two other demanding children, ages 5 and 8, and a less-than-empathetic husband (a one-dimensional performance by Ron Livingston).
      Although I could wince along with her trials, somewhat relieved with the introduction of Tully (nicely played by Mackenzie Davis), those problems moved the plot along achingly slow, proven by my wife's inevitable whisper to me: where is this going?
      It isn't until the last few minutes of the film that the story becomes whole. As with my wife, to many others (mostly women or mothers I assume) this final twist will not significantly detract from Theron's fine acting or the earthiness of the situations she faced. However, for me it didn't work and, in fact, turned me against the entire film.
      A bit like having a fairly good meal only to gag on the dessert. What you taste last is what lingers.


2 Stinks 2 Blinks 1 Wink

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