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With: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Emma Nelson, Kristen Wiig, James Urbaniak, Judy Greer, Troian Bellisario, Zoë Chao, Laurence Fishburne, Claudia Doumit, Steve Zahn, Megan Mullally, Richard Robichaux, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson
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Written by: Richard Linklater, Holly Gent, Vince Palmo, based on the novel by Maria Semple
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Directed by: Richard Linklater
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some strong language and drug material
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Running Time: 104
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Date: 08/15/2019
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Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)
Intelligent Design
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
The downside to Richard Linklater's Where'd You Go, Bernadette is that it doesn't feel like a Richard Linklater film. It feels like a film he might have done for hire, or for a lark. But after that one downside, there's nothing left but upsides. Whereas it lacks Linklater's usual shambling, lackadaisical, rough-at-the-edges touch, his special kind of filmmaking magic collides with a chirpy, neurotic story and meets it in the middle. It feels alive, measured like a heartbeat, not too sluggish and not too high-pitched.
Linklater adapted the screenplay, from Maria Semple's novel, with co-writers Holly Gent and Vince Palmo; they both co-wrote Me and Orson Welles, but have been with Linklater since the near-beginning, both with behind-the-scenes credits on Dazed and Confused. The script is rich like a novel, loaded with layers of details and themes that will be impossible to describe in a short synopsis, but it also moves like a breezy, lightweight comedy, not unlike, say, Linklater's School of Rock.
Cate Blanchette plays Bernadette, a talented architect who has not created anything in the years she has spent raising her teen daughter Bee (Emma Nelson). Meanwhile, Bee coaxes the family to take a trip to Antarctica, which causes Bernadette no end of stress. After many crazy events, including an attack by a scam artist, a landslide, and an intervention, Bernadette decides to disappear, and Bee and her father (Billy Crudup) launch an all-out search for her.
Kristen Wiig is among the supporting cast, great as an annoying super-mom, and James Urbaniak, Judy Greer, and Laurence Fishburne co-star. Steve Zahn appears in an elaborate documentary about Bernadette's architectural career. And damned if Blanchett won't be the person to beat for awards this year. The only words I could form when I walked out of the screening were: "she's so good." Where'd You Go, Bernadette is rich and complex, yet effortless, and it had me laughing, or at least grinning, throughout its entire running time.
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