Welcome to Me

Unconventional but warm exploration of a broken person who uses her own television program as public therapy; well written & directed, it deftly walks the line between playing mental illness for laughs & treating it with respect.

#nitrosMovieChallenge.

I think the film "Welcome to Me" is not for everyone and I am not surprised that the reviews are rather divergent. It's certainly a strange movie and one that might or might not appeal to you-- probably depending on how much you are willing to watch a film that often makes you embarrassed and has a very, very dark sensibility.

When the film begins, Alice (Kristen Wiig) has just won the lottery. However, she is mentally ill and foolishly decides that now she's rich, she doens't need her medication any more. So, she stops taking it and soon is blowing through her many millions of dollars. What does she blow it on??? I self-financed TV show all about her! It has very little in the way of conventional structure and the show is crazy...and, oddly, people think it's good. I assume they think it's meant to be a comedy...but the crazy antics and total self- absorption they see IS Alice.

The film is a very interesting character study of a woman with a Borderline Personality--especially of one whose hold on reality is very tenuous and whose narcissism is extreme, even for a Borderline. I was impressed by this character as well as her psychiatrist (Tim Robbins) as it looks as if whoever wrote the film knew about mental health issues and/or consulted with mental health professionals. Usually in films psychiatrists and psychologists are more caricatures--goofy one-dimensional idiots. Robbins' character is realistic, however-- with appropriate borders and methods. As for Wiig, she was entrancing in this strange role.

I am not 100% in love with this film--it is, at times, tough to watch and its overall message is certainly strange and mixed. Also, I hesitate to recommend it to everyone because Miss Wiig does a nude scene in which she's VERY nude....so be forewarned. An interesting film to watch if you feel like you've seen it all.

I was expecting a roll-on-the-floor comedy. After all, it's Kristin Wiig, and Will Ferrell as a producer.

It starts off funny enough. A woman obsessed with Oprah Winfrey feels screwed over in her past, but wins the lottery and wants to have her own talk show.

But it turns into an analysis of a "mental issue" and the diagnosis that goes along with that.

I think everyone has issues - but when you give these issues names then you marginalize & categorize people that further push people into little boxes.

By the end, I was moved to tears. This movie is so worth watching. But it's not the SNL-type skit you might be expecting.

This film tells the story of a woman with psychiatric illness, who wins $86 million from the lottery. She pays a production company millions of dollars to create her own TV talk show about the story of her life.

"Welcome to Me" is a pleasant surprise. The woman in question, Alice, is quirky but fun. She initially is awkward add a TV host, but as she gains experience, she becomes quite good at it. Her show is actually quite fun, even though I know it is wrong to like it because that is an exploitation of an unwell person. The ending is really quite touching, because she makes amends with her part and everyone around her. And the film also tells the belief that lottery winners often go back to the square one, but in here her journey to square one of a fulfilling journey.

I am writing this review because I honestly think that its current rating does not do this movie justice. People seem to be disliking this movie because its not the Kristen Wiig movie or humor they expected. Or, because they have some opinion or experience on borderline personality disorder. Valid reasons, sure, but just take this movie as is, without any preconceived notions about what it should be. Its hilarious, and weird, and honestly the funniest movie I've seen in a long time. And, it has this perfectly charming mix of having a pretty unbelievable timeline but at the same time, being scarily relatable in a lot of ways. Highly recommend.