What If (2013)

I remember when What If came out an eternity ago and I really wanted to see it because I was in a post-Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe crush period, but for a reason I don't recall I skipped it. The Radcliffe crush is over now, but I do have a crush on Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis at the moment, and I really like Zoe Kazan, so I finally checked it out. 

The story follows Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe), a medical school dropout who is not very good at relationships and decides to put his love life on hold while everyone around him is finding the perfect partner. One night at a party though, he instantly bonds with Chantry (Zoe Kazan) and falls for her. Unfortunately, she already is in a serious relationship with Ben (Rafe Spall), and she just wants them to be friends.

My biggest fear going into What If was that it would be a predictable and clichéd romantic comedy that questions whether a man and a woman can be just friends, and, unfortunately, that's exactly how it was. A rather unoriginal and dull story.

The characters didn't work much better for me either. While Wallace and Chantry are both lovable in their awkwardness, they still are pretty shallow and one-dimensional, and there's something kind of unlikeable about them, especially about Chantry, and I couldn't really care for them. Same goes with the supporting characters, they are too plain, bland, and come off as cardboard and unlikeable and annoying.

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The cast, on the other hand, does a pretty good job and it's about What If's only saving grace. Despite they all are given very little to do, Daniel Radcliffe brings his dry humour to the film and plays Wallace in a way that it's not (too) annoying —he's not as good as he's in Swiss Army Man though—, Koe Kazan is so charming and sweet you can't help but fall in love with Chantry, even though I did not like the character at all, and they have nice chemistry. It's the supporting cast though that steals the show as Adam Driver and Mackenzie Davis easily give the funniest performances.

Ultimately, What If felt like a huge waste of potential to me.

Tully (2018)

I watched Young Adult a while back and I didn't love it. It wasn't terrible but I sure didn't find it as good as Jason Reitman's previous movies. In spite of that and the fact that both Young Adult and Tully star Charlize Theron, I decided to give it a chance.

The film follows Marlo (Charlize Theron), a wife and mother of three, including a newborn baby, who is going through postpartum depression and is exhausted of having to take care of the kids all the time. When her brother Craig (Mark Duplass) offers the gift of a night nanny, though reluctant at first, she accepts which brings a young nanny named Tully (Mackenzie Davis) in her home. She and Marlo hit it off immediately and a very unusual relationship develops between the two women.

That's all I'm gonna tell you and all you need to know about Tully's plot. Without spoiling anything, I can tell you that the plot is simple and yet incredibly compelling and captivating and that it has an ending twist that will make you think. Tully's is a realist and intimate story about motherhood that shows how hard, exhausting and even impossible at times can be, but also shows that, ultimately, it is very rewarding. It is a deep and quite uncomfortable portrayal of motherhood.

In addition to that, Tully has character(s) you really care for. While the supporting characters are pretty thin --you barely notice Mark Duplass's Craig, Marlo's brother, and Ron Livingston's Drew, Marlo's husband--, Marlo is one of the most, if not the most interesting character of 2018. She is a woman who is trying to be a good wife to her absent husband and a good mom to her precocious but smart 8-year-old daughter, her quirky 6-year-old son who constantly needs attention --he's probably autistic-- and her newborn that basically cries all the time. She is exhausted, physically and emotionally drained as she also has to deal with her postpartum body that does not recognize as her own. Charlize Theron gives yet another fantastic performance. Not only she physically committed to the role by gaining 50lbs to understand better what Marlo was going through, but she gives such a realistic and haunting performance as Marlo. Everything she does or says, you believe it.

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Another great performance comes from Mackenzie Davis. She is terrific as the free-spirited and insightful night nanny Tully, and her vibrant and refreshing presence is a real blast. Also, she shares a wonderful chemistry with Charlize Theron and, with the relationship between Marlo and Tully being the core of the film, it really helps keep the movie going.

Tully is also filled with clever, hilarious and realistic dialogue. Throughout very interesting, it gets even more gripping when it leans into the mundanity of family life. At last, director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody, at their third collaboration, do a wonderful job in balancing the dramatic and humorous aspects of the story. They do an excellent job especially when it comes to finding humour in situations you wouldn't normally find humorous.