Once a rising star in the architecture world, Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) has been living in obscurity with her insanely wealthy family in Oregon, rapidly becoming an antisocial borderline agoraphobe, until her daughter, Bee (Emma Nelson), announces that she'd like to do a family trip to Antarctica. Preparations bring Bernadette's marital, social, and legal problems to a head as it's discovered her "digital assistant" is actually a crime ring and her husband (Billy Crudup) thinks she should be committed. So Bernadette vanishes, leaving Bee to reconstruct her mother's likely decisions.
This is meant to be heartwarming but the dialogue feels so fake and contrived, it's hard to acknowledge any actual emotion. The novel this is based on is by Maria Semple, but she was not listed as one of the screenplay writers. Having not read the novel, I don't know if the dialogue is the same as the book. I hope not. No offense to Newman, but it would have taken a much stronger actress to make Bee's lines remotely believable. Anything good in this movie comes from Blanchett, who gives it her all, as usual.
It's not terrible, but it's not one I'd rush to rewatch. It's streaming on the Roku Channel with ads.
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