Genre: Drama
Director: Noah Baumbach
Writer: Mo Buck
Cast: Brie Larson, Dustin Hoffman, Brendan Fraser, Ben Stiller, Winona Ryder, Gary Sinise, Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Adam Sandler
Plot : Alice (Brie Larson) is shooting a scene with her co-star Larry (Dustin Hoffman). The scene she acts is an emotional one, where her character is assisting her dying father as he is about to die. She starts to cry as the scene requires and completes the scene, but Steve (Ben Stiller), the director, isn’t satisfied with her performance. He cuts the scene and gets in her face, saying she’s doing a bad job and she’s extending everyone’s day because of her poor performance. She swears she’ll do a better job on the next take and he warns her that she needs to, they’ve lost enough time with this scene already. Larry whispers to her that she better get used to it, because Steve has always been like this. She thinks she has done a great job with the first scene and doesn’t understand why he is making her do another take, but she’ll do it anyway. They restart the scene and Alice gives another great performance, but it still isn’t up to Steve’s liking. He sends everyone home for the day and he walks away, having a hard time to contain his anger. He yells at her that she is lucky to have famous parents, or else she wouldn’t have landed this role.
Alice is eating dinner with her parents, famed former Hollywood power couple composed of two Academy Award winners in Sue (Michelle Pfeiffer) and George (Pierce Brosnan). George starts to talk about his daughter’s career and she tries to change the subject. He’s subtle, but he tells her that he’s disappointed with the trajectory her career has taken. Sue says her latest romantic comedies have failed both critically and at the box office and she should be ashamed of that, she’s tarnishing the family name. George reminds her that he pulled some strings to get her a role in Steve’s latest film and she better not disappoint like she has done before, she has a reputation to live up to. She says he has an unusual approach to directing and George answers that this is what makes him special. Every other lead actresses he’s had in the last five years have earned an Academy Award nomination, so it’s almost a given. Alice sarcastically says that she will finally be worthy of the family name and Sue says it’s not true, they love her no matter what. She quickly changes the subject and she asks her if things are getting serious with her boyfriend and Alice says it is and both her parents pretend to be happy for her. Sue says he was handsome back in the days and George says he used to be famous. Alice tells them he makes her happy and they should at least appreciate that. They do not speak for the rest of the evening and hug when they part ways.
Alice joins her boyfriend, Patrick (Brendan Fraser) in bed. He’s reading a magazine with the only light in the room coming from his lamp. He asks her how it went and she asks if he means with her parents or on the set, but it doesn’t matter, both were awful. She truly had a shitty day. She says her mother is mean to him and they don’t seem to like him and he says that’s normal because they would expect more for their precious daughter than a washed-up, blacklisted has-been. She says he’s none of those things and she rests her head on his shoulder. He says he is. The only offer her received in the last three months was to shoot a porn film. He’s washed up nd nobody likes him anymore. Alice turns the lights on and we see the posters of Patrick’s past films, when he was a box office and critical star. He points out that the last poster is from 2014 and he only put it there because it was the last time he was on the poster for a film. She says it’s sad for him, because she knows how good and lovable he is. They go to sleep while Alice promises Patrick to get his career back on track. He tells her not to sabotage her career trying to help him, she’s destined to great things.
The following day, Alice makes a detour on her way to the set to meet with her agent, Johnny (Adam Sandler), a family friend who is an agent to the world’s top stars. They meet over a coffee and she decides to be blunt. She asks him if he would take Patrick on as a client and he says there is no way he will do that, he’s damaged goods and when you want to stay on top, you only manage the best of the best like herself. She says she’s just as good as Patrick, it’s just that he had a tough stretch and he needs someone like him to dig him out of his hole. Johnny asks her to make up her mind because that’s not going to happen and she says she better take him on as a client, or else she’s taking her talents somewhere else. Not wanting to offend her and drive her away, he says he’ll think about it.
Alice is late on set and Steve is waiting for her in front of our trailer. He tells her he was aware of her diva reputation and he’s not going to tolerate it. They are waiting for them to shoot the scene they were trying to shoot yesterday but she wasn’t talented enough to complete. He hopes she is in a better move than yesterday, because they need to get this scene out of the way and no matter who her parents her, if she’s not going to be more dedicated and a better actress, he will find another lead actress. Alice heads to the set and clears her head, she needs to keep this job to make her parents proud and to help her career moving forward.
Patrick receives a call from Johnny, saying he took him on as a client and he has been able to book him an audition for later today. Patrick is perplexed, because he never reached out to Johnny and he hasn’t been looking for a role recently. He thanks him for the audition and he wants to give him his coordinates, but Johnny, being his usual self says his assistant will take care of it and he hangs up. He opens his e-mail and he received the script. He prints it and starts to learn it, with a renewed passion for his job.
Alice has another tough day on set, she throws her accessory across the room, angry at Steve’s insistence to keep reshooting even though she thinks the cuts are completely fine. She retreats to her trailer and vents her frustration, talking to herself. Larry, her co-star, enters her trailer as she is sitting on her makeup chair, looking at herself in the mirror. He starts to massage her on the shoulders, suggesting her to take it easy and get some weight off her shoulders. She stands up and thanks him for his support and he grabs her by the hips, telling her she is much better than she thinks she is. His hands slowly moves towards her posterior and Alice shoves him away and leaves her trailer in a hurry. She runs over to Steve’s trailer to tell him what happened and he asks her to go home. She’s exhausted and she overreacted. She needs to get a good night’s sleep and come back tomorrow with a clearer head. She says she won’t accept this and leaves.
When she gets back home, she’s greeted by Patrick, learning his lines for the audition. She asks him what he’s doing with a fake interest, trying to cover up the fact that she’s behind his job offer, but Patrick reads through her lie. He asks her how she can be such a good actress in films and such a bad one with him. He thanks her for the attention, but he says he would have been able to find some work himself and he didn’t need her family or her friends’ help to get his career back on track. Alice just thought she was doing a nice thing to show that she cares about him and she doesn’t get why he’s mad at her. He thinks he’ll come across as desperate and he knows that deep down, she didn’t do it for him, she did it to prove her parents wrong because they can’t support that their cherished daughter is dating a has-been. Alice says that’s not true and Patrick says that’s all she’s been trying to do since she started acting, getting her parents’ approval. Patrick storms off and locks himself in the bedroom, leaving Alice alone in the living room.
Some time later, Alice knocks on the door and she asks him if he’s still mad at her. He says he put it back behind him and he forgives her. She reminds him that she had no self-interest when she met with her agent and she did this to make him happy. Patrick apologizes because he keeps thinking people are plotting against him and he doesn’t allow himself to be happy often. They kiss to reconcile and Patrick says it would surely be easier to be in her shoes than his. Alice starts to cry, saying it’s not easier. He asks her what’s wrong and she recalls what happened earlier today and how Steve refuses to believe her and blames it on her. He tells her not to make a big deal out of this and just do her job, take the paycheck and the praise that comes with the performance and get this behind her. A lot of people are like that in showbusiness and that’s just how it goes. She says she can’t do nothing about it. He grabs her by the shoulders and asks her to reconsider her options. He gets that she wants to “do the right thing”, but she needs to consider the harm it will do to her career, he’s speaking by experience. She doesn’t understand why he wouldn’t support her and he means by that and gets upset. They sleep separately for the night.
The following day, Patrick sits nervously, waiting for his audition. He doesn’t know anyone in the waiting room, confirming his thought that his career is at a real low-point. Every else is much younger than him and they’re all in shape, whereas he rocks his dad bod proudly. They call out his name and he takes a breather before entering the room. He meets with the director, Michael (Gary Sinise). Patrick starts his audition and Michael immediately cuts him off. He says he doesn’t need him to do the audition, he has the role. He says a recognizable face like him will help him with financing and it will probably be his most-watched film in years. Patrick connects the dots in his head, he has heard of Michael before, but not for the good reasons. He’s a renowned Lifetime movie director and it looks like he got the lead in one of his film. He thought he was about to do a career comeback, but everybody knows Lifetime movies are career suicide. He shakes his hand and smiles. He leaves the building and violently hits his steering wheel when he enters the car.
When Alice gets to the set that day, she’s immediately greeted by Steve who asks how she’s doing. Alice finds it funny and asks him why he suddenly cares if she’s doing fine. Is it because she has to work his abusive and pervert co-star and make up with his boiling temper? He grabs her by the arm and brings her to her trailer. He asks her to keep it down. He knows Larry is a creep and he has known for a long time. Has she ever noticed he only seems to work with him ? He advices her to keep this quiet. It will be better of her and her career. She asks him if he’s threatening her and h says he isn’t, but she understands what he means. Alice fakes a smile and she says that she’ll be alright and will be able to finish the shooting. After Steve leaves, she receives a call from her mother, Sue. She expresses her concern about Patrick since it was just announced that he’s starring in a Lifetime movie. Alice asks her mother how she was able to land so many acting awards when she can’t even lie to her daughter. She says she knows she asked Johnny to give him a role in a shitty movie just to get back at her, simply because she doesn’t like him. Sue doesn’t know what she’s talking about, but before she hangs up, she tells her daughter that she deserves better than Patrick. When Sue hangs up, she turns to George and confirms that her daughter knows. He rolls his eyes and he says she’s smarter than they thought.
Alice goes to the set to start to work as it helps her focus and forget everything else on her mind. However, she’s cornered by Larry who brings her to a dark and quiet corner to apologize to her if he doesn’t like his methods. He says he likes to get close to his co-star so he understands them better and it translates into more chemistry on screen. He grabs her by the arms again and tries to get closer to her. She resists a bit, but he’s stronger than her and he’s able to complete his hug, which is longer than it should be. He lowers his hand near her buttocks and once again, Alice shoves him. She slaps him across the face and leaves in a hurry, while Larry screams that she thought she enjoyed it after she accepted her hug. She runs across the set to Steve’s trailer and tells him she quits, she can’t support working with a pervert like Larry and a sociopath like him. Steve asks her to think about what it will do to her career, but she doesn’t seem to care. He asks her what will Sue and George think ? They already see her as a failure, but what will they think now ? Alice says to hell with them. She doesn’t need their approval, she can do what she wants, but Steve says doors were opened to her because of her family name, but if she does indeed quit, some doors will be locked forever, it’ll build her a reputation. She says she doesn’t care about any of this and she leaves.
That night, Alice and Patrick are in Sue and George’s driveway as they were invited to eat. Patrick still can’t believe she quit and she says she’s here to announce to them that she quit before she learns it from a tabloid or a newspaper. George invites them in and shakes Patrick’s hand. Alice is suspicious as she hears other familiar voices in the kitchen. She’s surprised to see her mother took the liberty to invite Johnny, Larry and Steve to the evening. They welcome her and Alice is visibly uncomfortable. She asks her mother if she can speak to her in confidence and they leave for her bedroom.
Alice asks her mother what all of this is about and Sue answers that she’s doing this for her. Johnny, Larry and Steve are family friends and she’s letting them down. If word gets out that she quit such a prestigious project, her reputation will take a hit and it will surely tarnish the family name. Alice says there’s more to life than just reputation and make-belief, other people rely on love and cooperation to live a good life, but it looks like that’s not how her family lives. She’s always going to be looked at as a disappointment. Sue says that’s not true, she just doesn’t want to see her daughter waste her life like that. Alice doesn’t believe her and leaves the room.
In the kitchen, George breaks the awkward silence, asking Patrick if he’s happy he landed his latest role and Patrick says he can sense the mockery in his tone. Larry and Steve laugh and they say there needs to be actors of all kinds and it’s nice to see that they take their job seriously, because Larry and Steve sure don’t. Patrick looks at Johnny and he asks him if there was nothing better available and Johnny doesn’t know what to say and he gets defensive. He shows him his phone and his Bluetooth earpiece and he asks him if he’d like to do his job instead. His career certainly isn’t the easiest to manage in Hollywood. When Alice comes back followed by Sue, all the men smile and act like nothing happened.
Sue serves dinner and everyone sits in an awkward silence. Alice decides to ask Larry if he wants to describe what he did to her on the set, but Sue says it’s not the place, or the right time. Alice says it’s the right time, because they all want to defend him so badly. She starts to retell what he did to her and both her parents are shocked. Steve tries to defend his star, saying it’s just his way and Johnny acts like he didn’t hear anything she just said, because he fakes an upcoming call. Things get heated between Patrick and Larry and Sue has had enough, she throws Patrick and Alice out of the house. She tells her daughter that she can’t untie years of friendship like that, but Alice bets that she can.
A week later
Patrick shakes hands with Michael as he gets on set of television movie. He rehearsed his lines and he knows the movie by heart, like a play. Michael says there’s no time for shenanigans, he’s on a tight schedule and an even tighter budget, so time is money and he has little of both. They shoot the first scene and Patrick doesn’t like his delivery. He reaches over to Michael and ask if they can redo the scene so he can do better and Michael bursts out laughing. Patrick asks him what’s funny and Michael says it probably works that way on A-grade projects, but they don’t do that here. He delivered his line and that’s all they need to move forward. Patrick doesn’t agree with this practice, but Michael keeps on denying his request. He tells Patrick that he now understands the diva reputation that precedes him. He says him and Alice go well together since they have the same on-set behaviour, that’s probably how he was able to get her. Before Patrick has time to answer, Michael announces they are moving on to the next scene.
Alice sits at home, trying to find a new agent since Johnny dropped her following the controversy. Her parents did a great job of leaving the story out of the news, but some people have learned about her exit from her previous film halfway through completion. She receives a call from an unknown number, revealed to be a journalist named Jenny (Winona Ryder). She says she heard what happened, but she doesn’t believe the bullshit excuse Sue and George’s PR team gave. She wants to know the full story. Alice juggles her options in her head and agrees to meet with Jenny tonight.
When Patrick gets back home that evening, he’s discouraged with the movie he’s making. He says it’s going to be awful and he will become a laughing stock for how bad it is. He says he’s doing his best to elevate the material, but he wasn’t known to be a good dramatic actor back then and it’s certainly not Michael’s direction and this script that will help him step up his game. Alice seems distant and Patrick asks her what’s wrong. She says she was asked by a reporter to tell what really happened on the set. Patrick says she shouldn’t do it, people will forget about it eventually and thigs will go back to the way they were. Alice says it’s exactly what she doesn’t want to happen and it’s too late anyway, because he accepted. Patrick asks her who’s interviewing her and she mentions Jenny. He says he’ll come with her. Jenny twisted his words years ago in an article and his career never recovered, so he wants to go with her to ensure the same doesn’t happen to her.
Alice and Patrick meet with Jenny in a restaurant. He’s cold towards her at the beginning, but she apologizes for her article on him, saying it painted her in a bad light. She mentions that as opposed to her piece on Patrick, it’s not Alice she’s interested in painting in a bad light, but Larry and Steve. Reports were made of the treatments they give to their female stars, but nothing never came out of it. Jenny asks if Alice would like to be the one to let the cat out of the bag. She accepts and proceeds to retell her story and how everyone was trying to protect them. Jenny thanks them for her interview and leaves. Both Patrick and Alice figure that it went well. Patrick reveals that he tapped the whole conversation, so Jenny can’t twist their words this time.
A few weeks later, around Thanksgiving, Alice and Patrick sit in their living room, awaiting the start of Patrick’s latest film, a cringy family drama set around Thanksgiving. Alice asks him honestly, which family is more bizarre, the one in the film or hers. He can’t answer straight away and asks her to ask the question after the film is over. He apologizes in advance, the film is really bad. Sue and George are also waiting for the film to start, but with the sole purpose of making fun of Patrick for starring in such a lowly production. The film is atrocious and gets slammed by the few critics who bothered watching. Patrick’s name is mentioned briefly, but nothing comes out of it.
On Thanksgiving, Alice and Patrick are on Sue and George’s doorstep. Sue is surprised to see them since they weren’t invited, but Alice says she isn’t here to eat dinner or anything. She gives her a document, smiles and leaves. Larry, Steve and Johnny received it too, in the mail. Sue reads the paper, in which Jenny exposed Larry and the industry-wise cover-up put in place to defend his actions. Everyone panics, but Alice and Patrick are smiling. He asks her if she regrets anything in the car ride home and she says she doesn’t know what it will do to her career, but she regrets nothing. When they get home, the news have picked it up. Thanksgiving is a slow news day, so it’s all over the news. Alice smiles as Larry is brought down, and everyone surrounding him too.
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