This movie is yet another one of those films that never really saw widespread exposure for some reason. It was initially released in 2016 and I had no idea that it existed. Apparently it has also been available on Netflix for nearly as long as the film has existed but it was buried in my library and I only recently became aware of it.
The trailer was nicely done and I like Ellen Page ever since Juno so I figured I would give it a go. I did not regret this decision as this movie is a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotion that exhibits the "joys" of unwanted parenthood and also compassion towards others.
[src](https://www.moviemistakes.com/images/titles/social/13276.jpg)As always I try to avoid spoilers but if you are going to get upset by knowing anything about this film at all just know that I recommend it
The film begins by showing us Tallulah and her boyfriend Nico who are living in a van and getting by in life by stealing credit cards and scamming people any way that they can in order to get money for food and what not.
They both seem to like this transient and lawless existence until for reasons I will not reveal Tallulah (Page) finds herself alone. She knows where Nico is from and therefore heads out to find him in New York City.
When she gate-crashes Nico's mother's home, his mother (played by the always wonderful Allison Janney) she is a little less than excited to meet Tallulah since mom hasn't seen or heard from her son Nico in several years.
After getting the door slammed in her face and removed from the building she is at a loss as to what she is going to do to survive while she waits for Nico to return.
This leads us to the meat and potatoes of the film: As Tallulah is walking the halls of hotels looking for leftover outside of doors for room service one of the inhabitants comes to the door and asks her if she is housekeeping to which Tallulah responds that "yes she is."
This is where Tallulah gets roped into babysitting for a drunk mother who doesn't seem to care about her daughter at all. The baby is naked, running around getting into whatever, while the kinda slutty mom is smoking and drinking and basically ignoring the baby.
[src](https://i1.wp.com/oldaintdead.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/tallulah-f.jpg?fit=800%2C588&ssl=1)She ends up kidnapping / rescuing the baby in a jointed effort to both remove the child from a terrible situation with an incapable and unwilling baby and also to use the child as a way to get into the good graces of Nico's mother... initially the plan works but of course, kidnapping, even when your intentions for the child are mostly good, is kind of illegal.
The plot is more complicated than just the obvious illegal nature of taking someone else's baby. This is a story about families that go wrong. We dive into why it is that Tallulah is homeless to begin with, and we also dive into Margo (Janney), who is a successful author and PhD who is extremely talented and successful, yet also has her own shortcomings as a mother that is evidenced by the fact that her son Nico stopped wanting anything to do with her years ago. Money doesn't buy happiness is the message here and Margo starts to admire Tallulah's free-spirited nature.
The film is also an expose about how there are likely a lot of accidental and perhaps unwanted children out there and being born into wealth doesn't necessarily change this.
Should I watch it?
I am a sucker for family drama films and this is probably because my own family is not without its problems. I have never been through any of the things depicted in this film but I am sure there are plenty of people out there that have been. We all have our demons, even if we appear strong and successful and this film does a good job of showing the vulnerabilities of everyone. There are some impractical moments in the film but if you can look past that, I think almost everyone will enjoy this movie.
