CHARLIZE Theron has never been afraid to ugly up for a part, or is that down? Her Oscar winning turn in ‘Monster’ is a case in point.
And while her starring role as Marlo in Jason Reitman’s new comedy ‘Tully’ is more plain Jane than plain monstrous, it’s still a million miles from her earlier glamorous roles. And that’s a good thing!
Marlo is a struggling mother of two children, one of which suffers from yet to be identified special needs. With another baby on the way and a husband who has emotionally checked out, she’s at the end of her tethered umbilical cord with pregnant stress.
Not wanting to accept the generous offer of her rich brother to hire a night nanny, Marlo battles on until almost breaking point, finally agreeing to some much needed assistance.
Enter Tully, a bright, confident, carefree and caring young childminder, who turns Marlo’s broken life and cluttered house upside down.
The above set-up may not sound like your regular comedy, and it’s not the pie in the face or banana slip kind, but it certainly packs its fair share of laughs, generated organically from real life situations. In between the chuckles, it’s probably fair to say that motherhood has never been depicted so accurately and Theron does a superb job of portraying its rawness and challenges.
Reitman (‘Juno’, ‘Up in the Air’) is clearly a skilful director and here he teams up again with ‘Juno’ creator, Diablo Cody, who really knows how to connect with an audience and build a captivating narrative.
The underrated and underused Ron Livingston (‘Office Space’) is top drawer as Marlo’s absent husband as is Mackenzie Davis (‘Blade Runner 2049’) as Tully, but it’s once again Theron, like a fine wine getting better with age, who ends up stealing the show.
This is clever intelligent writing that will fill you with equal measures of laughter, concern for a wonderfully constructed main character, and intrigue as you wonder what direction the story will take next. We award ‘Tully’ a review score of four attractive stars.
Other releases: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ – 3 stars
Paul O’Rourke
