Quartile rating: 7/10 · 2 ratings
Marlo, a mother of three, including a newborn, is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant at first, she quickly forms a bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging nanny named Tully.
Tully is anchored by Charlize Theron's raw, physically committed performance as an exhausted mother navigating postpartum depression with painful authenticity. The screenplay by Diablo Cody and direction by Jason Reitman deliver a sharp, emotionally honest portrait of modern motherhood that earns genuine dramatic weight. The plot's third-act twist recontextualizes everything that preceded it in a way that feels earned rather than gimmicky, making the ending one of the film's strongest assets. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable — warm and intimate but not visually distinctive. Novelty is solid: while the 'magical nanny' premise exists elsewhere, the film's unflinching, unglamourized depiction of maternal exhaustion and mental health gives it a distinctive voice, though it doesn't quite reach the level of a wholly singular work.