REVIEW: 20th Century Women

Courtesy of A24

There are times as a critic when I feel like I’m on an island by myself. Sometimes it’s because I love a movie that everyone else hates. Other times, my peers will lose their minds over something that absolutely baffles me.

The latter scenario is exactly what happened with Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women, which is currently sitting at 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. In theory, I should be one more critic singing its praises because of an outstanding cast and an admirable premise. But in actuality, I found myself growing quickly irritated with the film’s inflated sense of self-importance and a staggering unawareness of ordinary human behavior.

I know nothing about writer-director Mills’ life experience, but this movie screams “I was made by a trust fund guy who never met regular people.” I had almost tuned out the film entirely when the end credits arrived. It’s been a while since a movie left me so cold, which is unfortunate considering the actors are clearly working hard to breathe real life into such fake people.

In late-1970s Santa Barbara, single mother Dorothea (Annette Bening) realizes that her teenage son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) isn’t getting everything he should from their relationship. As such, she enlists the help of her housemates Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and William (Billy Crudup), as well as Jamie’s crush Julie (Elle Fanning), to help teach her son about life.

Because the premise – intriguing as it sounds – is so light, 20th Century Women never really gains any momentum. It’s basically a series of five-minute vignettes edited together to make a two-hour movie. As such, there are a number of powerful moments, but they’re drowned out by Mills’ needlessly distracting directorial flourishes and a constant barrage of painfully pretentious dialogue, much of it delivered in voiceover.

For instance, I’m clearly supposed to think an insufferable character is deep when she brings an underage kid into a bar because “age is a bourgeois concept.” However, my actual response was to roll my eyes so far back into my head that I could no longer see the screen. By the time each character delivered a ponderous monologue telling viewers what happens to them in the future, I was a slack-jawed zombie.

Again, it’s disappointing since Bening is so incredible and she’s matched by such robust supporting work from relative newcomer Zumann, Fanning and Gerwig. The only actor who feels wasted is Crudup, which is unfortunate considering his character reminds me a little of the rock star he played in Cameron Crowe’s wonderful Almost Famous.

You probably shouldn’t take my word on this one since other reviews indicate I’m clearly in the minority. In fact, they suggest I saw a completely different film than everyone else. But that happens from time to time, and it keeps the job interesting. Life would be boring if we all agreed on everything, right?

20th Century Women is rated R for sexual material, language, some nudity and brief drug use.

Grade: C