I'll say this much. It's not often you see an article for a film with a title that's most likely going to restrict this site for simply typing it. This is strictly so the readers know which film I'm talking about. Yes, most of us swear in real-life, but we do our best in a public place like The Film Pub. With that said, if you're looking for more evidence that the lifestyle of a parent may not be for you, this dark comedy led by Amy Adams might help further dissuade you.
As you might imagine, Adams plays a mom who's burnt out by raising her son mostly by herself, while the husband is regularly away on business. A familiar story I've seen in my own life. As she struggles to sleep every waking night, our lead begins to inherit and experience symptoms that are found in wolves. At day, she's a "normal" everyday stay at home mom. At night, in her wolf form, she roams and runs free, doing things she normally would restrain herself from doing.
Coming from a new cat owner, I'd highly recommend avoiding this flick if you're sensitive to harm done to cats. You'll thank me later once you know why. Divorced of that cautionary advice, I suppose this film is serviceable for what it is. The correlation between Adams' wolf form and her mounting frustration with the constant parenting by herself is made clear from the start. You see how underneath her smile is growing tension, with cuts between what she actually does and what she's truly thinking inside.
Initially, you're thinking the other moms trying to be her friend aren't going to amount to much outside of driving our lead nuts. But to the film's credit, they do make a spoiler-related connection between them and an important plot element that actually works in the film's favor. Sadly, this film is already fading away from my memory not 3 hours after I finished watching it. The ending was confused in that it felt like it was about to end several times. The ending they did choose was rather awkwardly put together in my eyes.
I suppose I could mostly see where the film was headed, right down to what would happen with the cat. I reckon this film would be more memorable if it went down a darker path. What if our lead got even more unhinged and susceptible to mistakes like the lead character for "The 400 Blows"? What if she didn't want to abandon her wolf powers and kept evolving in that regard? I feel like a revelation or two around the mid point of the narrative had little justification in going where it did.
Amy Adams does sell this happy looking mother that's hurting and angry inside. It just barely earns a recommendation for Adams' work, and for its clear message about the all too real burnout parents will experience. This holds especially true if one does more heavy lifting than the other. A rental will give you the right amount of satisfaction, similarly to how Adams feels after using her newfound wolf powers every now and then.
Final Verdict: 6.5/10
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