The previous film by writer/director Mike Mills was “Beginners,” which I called “a numbingly navel-gazing, somewhat arty examination of life, love and happiness. Too heady to be enjoyable.” I can use that same critique for this film. It stars Annette Bening as an atypical mother in her 50s, who’s concerned about her relationship with her adolescent son (Lucas Jade Zumann). She enlists the help of 2 female boarders (Greta Gerwig & Elle Fanning) to help form his character. Bening, who looks delightfully unglamourous, is complex and compelling every moment she’s on screen. It’s her first major role in a while and she’s wondrous. The rest of the cast is fine, but it’s the uninteresting episodic narrative and lackluster direction that make the film more self-indulgent than entertaining.

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