Big disappointment. There is zero dramatic tension in this leisurely-paced coming of age, homage-to-Mom film. A period piece set up the coast from LA near Santa Barbara in the late 1970's, it is the tale of a 15-year old boy and his single Mom who is worried he needs help becoming a man. So she fills the household with helpers. The characters talk and talk and talk and Bening smokes and smokes and smokes and by the end of the film you wonder why anyone backed this rather self-obsessed little indulgence. Bening is the center of attention, and she tries hard, but she wears as much as she delights as Mom. The other characters seem like stage props with lines. I found it hard to get with most of them. Several people walked out of the screening I attended. I was tempted.
Review of 20th Century Women
