By presenting these characters as caricatures or simple archetypes—grieving mother, failing writer—instead of actual people for most of its runtime, the movie misses out on the story beats that make the audience feel a connection with the characters and the performers that portray them. These moments are simply acted out–like a play performer mouthing words without emotion–but they don’t hit. There are scenes where they’re more than that though, but those scenes are so infreq
