Tully Review

Tully (2018), Directed by Jason Reitman

Tully is the latest film from director Jason Reitman and frequent collaborators Diablo Cody and Charlize Theron. Reitman and Cody first collaborated on Juno together, and the three of them worked together on 2011's brilliant Young Adult. Tully is about a stressed, underappreciated mother named Marlo and her coping to every day family hassles. The film starts with her pregnant, ready to pop, and already she has her hands full with her special needs son, a growing daughter, and an absent(minded) father. Her brother recommends a new-ish idea of getting a nanny to go to her house at night once her third child is born to facilitate and rejuvenate Marlo.

Now I know, this premise could easily turn into a suspenseful thriller where the nanny turns out to be a crazy stalker who takes Marlo's family hostage. Thank goodness the nanny is Tully, a smart, goofy, well-meaning young woman. Marlo and Tully quickly become friends and Marlo's batteries become fully recharged. She no longer is just waiting for life to blow by, but learns how to deal with suburban life in a more proactive way.

Without giving too much away, it's a surprisingly very funny but believable motherhood story. Tully makes sure that it doesn't become an adult's version of Mary Poppins. There are shocking moments in the third act that will catch you off guard but are not out of character. It's most definitely not a movie that I thought would stick in my head this well. Jason Reitman may not have the impeccable track record that he used to have anymore, but Tully shows genius all the way from the written words of the script to the final shot of the movie.