Tully (2018)

Jason Reitman was my favorite director to rise to prominence in the 2000s, with the triple whammy of Thank You for Smoking, Juno, and Up in the Air. Alas, he couldn't maintain the momentum, leading to a series of less esteemed efforts. Tully looked like a partial recovery. I was also curious to see a second hit from writer Diablo Cody.

Middle-aged Marlo (Charlize Theron) starts the movie heavily pregnant for the third time, her other children being 8 and 6. Her rich brother (Mark Duplass) offers the gift of a night nanny, a concept she had never known before. At first she declines, but before long, she's too drained, and not just in the breast-pumping sense. Enter the title character (Mackenzie Davis), a 26-year-old nonconformist who proves quite competent at taking care of all infant nighttime needs other than nursing -- and goes above and beyond the call of duty for the family. Once Marlo gets past the discomfort of a rather intimate connection to someone she hardly knows, she values Tully tremendously.

You may think this sounds sweet, and it can be, but there's a definite edge. The R rating isn't just for nipples in a nurturing context. Marlo swears a lot, sometimes where her older kids can hear, and watches late-night reality show Gigolos. When she mentions how long it's been since she and husband Drew (Ron Livingston) last had sex, Tully suggests interposing herself in the action, and Marlo and Drew approve. Now, I can enjoy some movies with a strong child presence that aren't for kids to watch, but the lack of any adverse consequences for adultery, however consensual, doesn't sit well with me.

I do appreciate one lesson: Marlo warns Tully that her free-spirited ways will be the opposite of attractive after age 30. Indeed, there is something of a warts-and-all feel to the picture, at least compared with most Hollywood depictions of motherhood. I guess it would be more so if we got to know better what Tully's libertine life is like away from her night job. Some of the two women's less responsible actions do catch up with them in the third act, however awkward the presentation.

A common complaint about Tully is that Marlo clearly has postpartum depression for a while, yet no character diagnoses it or even mentions the possibility. Some viewers fear that it's being normalized. Me, I figure it already is tragically normal for people to pay too little mind to the signs; if anything, the film helps call attention to a pattern of deficit in treatment of a serious condition.

Speaking of a lack of diagnosis, a subplot concerns the 6-year-old, who has seen three psychologists, none of whom can explain his behavior. I find this strange, because all the symptoms point to moderate autism. When he gets referred to a special school, Marlo, apparently poorly versed in clinical terminology, accuses the principal of deeming her son "retarded." I almost assumed the story was set in an earlier decade, until I noticed a smartphone. (The prior use of an archaic-style microwave didn't help.)

I half-wish that this subplot got more fleshed out, perhaps in a separate film. As it is, from a storytelling perspective, the eldest child barely has a reason to exist. She doesn't put nearly as much of a strain on adults; her biggest flaw that we know of is low self-esteem. Only for a few brief moments does she get the spotlight, and they have no effect on the overall plot.

You may have noticed that I haven't said much about Drew. That's because he's a rather minimal parent, playing video games with headphones on and (less his fault) sleeping through baby cries. What gets me is that Marlo, who claims to be highly satisfied with their marriage, never even suggests to him that he shoulder more of the load. Neither does Tully, but then, that is her job for the time being. When the women decided to leave the baby at home with Drew for hours without telling him they were leaving, I thought, "Have they completely forgotten what he's like?"

There are some definite Juno hallmarks herein, for better and worse. If one thing has changed, it's that Cody uses more credible dialog. It may not be richer or more quotable, but it gets the job done without annoying the audience.

Both Cody and Reitman will have to try harder to regain their former glory. I'm just glad they didn't sink further with hit-and-miss Tully.