Review of Welcome to Me (2015) by Matthew S — 07 May 2015

Kristen Wiig is an incredibly talented actor. That being the case, she has put herself in a very challenging role in a very uncomfortable film. The disorder at the core of the plot is all too real. It is also an extremely challenging disorder to live with both for the individual and those around him/her.

Interestingly, most of the portrayal of the disorder and Wiig's performance are fairly accurate. The situations in which the character and her family/friends find themselves is over-the-top silly.

The result is something I would call an interesting cinematic error. It is not funny. It is a flawed attempt at satire that is strange, unusual, profane and uncomfortably semi-entertaining. I kept wanting to really like the film, but it left me feeling indifferent to it.

That is not an all together bad thing. And, I doubt that many people know much about Borderline Personality Disorder. In fact, I find it hard to believe anyone involved in this movie were expecting it to be the sort of "laugh out loud" humor we normally get from the production team of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell.

In addition, when we've seen Wiig play outlandish scenery-eating comedy for years -- she doesn't do that in this role. I'm glad I saw it and do not regret the money spent. For a mall movie -- this is miles ahead of the curve because it takes a great number of risks.