Enter Mackenzie Davis’s Tully, a free-spirited, twentysomething ‘night nanny’ who comes after dark to take care of the newborn and give Marlo chance to sleep. Tully is part-Mary Poppins, part-Yoda. She bakes cupcakes, cleans the house from top to bottom and delivers philosophical pearls of wisdom that belie her years. She doesn’t judge Marlo for feeling overwhelmed by her children, or for bingeing mindless reality TV (Gigolos, if you’re wondering). Instead, the pair forge a quick bond and Marlo’s mood is soon lifted. Her kids can be unwittingly cruel – like when she takes off her juice-stained top at the dinner table only to have her daughter ask matter-of-factly: “Mum, what’s wrong with your body?” – but Marlo still battles on wearily, armed with Cody’s typically sharp one-liners. It’s staggering to think that less than a year ago Theron was brutally taking out KGB agents in Atomic Blonde. From there to Tully is some transformation. Davis, too, is impressive in the titular role, making the most of her limited screen time and the character’s enigmatic nature. At times Tully sails uncomfortably close to the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, but Cody’s script works hard to subvert that by taking the film to places you wouldn’t necessarily expect. How you react to this will likely colour how you view Tully once the credits roll. In all honesty this was a turn I didn’t quite buy, clashing against the workaday problems Marlo faces as she strives to keep herself, and her dysfunctional family, on track. A few years from now a film like Tully could well end up being buried away on a Netflix carousel, never to be seen or heard from again. That would be a real shame because, despite its trouble sticking the landing, it houses a phenomenally good movie star performance from Theron. If you’re at all tempted by Tully then it’s worth seeking out on the big screen. The future of films like this depend on that support. Tully is out in UK cinemas from May 4th.
title: “Tully Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-31” author: “Marisol Strickland”
Theron is absolutely spectacular as Marlo, a stay-at-home mom who has just given birth to her third child and is — well, “feeling overwhelmed” would be an understatement. With her caring yet newly promoted husband Drew (Ron Livingston) having to devote more time to work — and the family certainly needing the money he’s bringing in — Marlo has to struggle with the kids by herself, including a eight-year-old daughter with her own insecurities and a six-year-old son who is potentially on the spectrum and may need to be moved to a different school. With the newborn keeping her up at night, Marlo is starting to lose control of her emotions, her senses and her stability. We could go on and on about Theron but Davis is outstanding too; she’s appealing, fresh and charismatic, with just the right amount of ambiguity to give this seemingly perfect mother’s helper a shade of mystery. As for the two men in this chamber piece, Livingston and Duplass are clearly in the background but Livingston in particular is warmly sympathetic as Drew, a character who could have been just another one-dimensional detached breadwinner but instead comes across as a man who is doing his best to understand something he can never fully comprehend. With Cody writing from personal knowledge and Reitman directing with a gentler hand here than on his laborious last film, 2014’s Men, Women and Children, Tully completely gets the details and daily travails of parenting right. It’s exhausting, grinding work — a harder full-time job than just about any other — and you can see the effects of it etched on Theron’s face and body and hear it in the tones of her voice. She and Cody are both unafraid to explore the darker side of motherhood: the doubts, the fears, the loneliness, the bouts of depression and anxiety. Tully captures the essence of this to moving effect and Theron boldly throws herself into it. But starting as a somewhat dour yet snarkily funny comedy-drama, Tully eventually reminds us in bittersweet fashion that it’s perfectly okay to ask for help, that it’s also okay to take care of yourself — sometimes before you have to take care of others — and that it’s important not to completely subsume one’s self-identity in the process. Tully is out in theaters Friday (May 4).
