Words on Bathroom Walls (2020)
111 min.
Release Date: August 21, 2020 (Wide)
Mental illness can often be tricky subject matter to get right in the movies. Capturing an interior struggle with kid gloves can come off false and maudlin, or going too far in the other direction could make it feel melodramatic or even irresponsible. With “Words on Bathroom Walls,” director Thor Freudenthal (2010’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”) and writer Nick Naveda are respectful and honest, pulling off a delicate balance in handling schizophrenia within a teen romance. Based on Julia Walton’s 2017 novel of the same name, this is a sensitive, thoughtful and authentically observed film. If it doesn’t completely remove the stigma of mental illness or even the telling of YA stories, “Words on Bathroom Walls” should definitely still educate and entertain.
If being a teenager weren’t difficult enough, high school senior Adam Petrazelli (Charlie Plummer) hears voices and sees things that aren’t there. When Adam cooks—his contribution to supporting his recently divorced mother Beth (Molly Parker)—he’s able to block out the noise. In his mind, he starts seeing a trio of advice-giving hallucinations: Zen-like “Dalai Lama meets Coachella” hippie Rebecca (AnnaSophia Robb); a cigar-chomping, bat-wielding, tracksuit-wearing bodyguard (Lobo Sebastian); and the unfiltered Joaquin (Devon Bostick), “a horny best friend from a ’90s teen movie.” After having a psychotic-break episode in chemistry class and accidentally burning his only friend, Adam is expelled and then diagnosed with schizophrenia. To finish out the term and hopefully enroll in culinary school one day, Adam gets transferred to a Catholic academy thanks to a good word put in by his mother’s live-in boyfriend Paul (Walton Goggins). The only condition to being admitted is if he takes his prescribed medication. Keeping his condition a secret becomes a challenge for Adam, especially once he makes a close connection with the school’s valedictorian, Maya (Taylor Russell), who agrees to tutor him.
“Words on Bathroom Walls” never presents mental illness with quick fixes, nor does it ever allow its protagonist dealing with an illness to ever become the illness. Even with a relationship forming between Adam and Maya, the film seems to always trust the drama of the story, as Adam begins a trial antipsychotic drug with side effects and then goes off the medication, without manufacturing any additional conflict. Working from a script that actually listens to its characters and gives them goals and interests, Charlie Plummer (2018’s “Lean on Pete”) and Taylor Russell (2019’s “Waves”) are a lovely couple whose first love is palpable. A completely accessible and versatile young actor for his generation, Plummer is outstanding and deeply empathetic as Adam. With a lead role that asks a lot from him, he splendidly pulls off a wide spectrum of emotions. Russell is wonderful and expressive as Maya, the character’s outspoken nature belying the actress’ innate softness and quietude. She doesn’t have it all together, side-hustling in the academy's off-limits bathroom and selling essays and term papers to afford her tuition, but Maya is the glue keeping her family stable.
Molly Parker works wonders with the archetypal Single Mom role, bringing genuine warmth, resiliency and layers to Beth, who must navigate her role as a mother of a child with mental illness and still find time for herself and her new partner. As often as the actor plays antagonistic and plays it well, Walton Goggins is put in one of the trickier spots as Beth’s decent boyfriend Paul, who makes a surprising arc feel more motivated than contrived. The terrific supporting cast is rounded out by Andy Garcia, as compassionate priest Father Patrick; Beth Grant, as strict headmistress Sister Catherine; and AnnaSophia Robb, as the warm and optimistic hallucination Rebecca.
Director Thor Freudenthal makes some daring visual and aural choices (along with a complimentary score by The Chainsmokers) to demonstrate how Adam’s mind works. When Adam has an intensely hallucinatory incident in chemistry class, it is literalized as a swirling darkness, or when he hears a sinister disembodied voice from an open door, it sounds like something out of a supernatural horror film. Before he is admitted into the private academy, Adam even pictures Sister Catherine ablaze. Freudenthal flourishes in the more low-key moments, too. A scene set at an outside night screening of Maya’s favorite movie, “Never Been Kissed,” is sweet and romantic, and Adam’s first confessional with Father Patrick is perceptive, where Adam learns that “admitting our flaws gives us the opportunity to face them.” A big climactic speech at a high school graduation sounds hackneyed and should not work, but it does. Poignant and even often funny without pandering, “Words on Bathroom Walls” resonates as a study in empathy.
Grade: B +
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