Review of Words on Bathroom Walls (2020) by Dlma1 — 29 Nov 2020

This is a drama about a teenager diagnosed with schizophrenia and his efforts to hide it from a potential girlfriend. No, it is not as maudlin as that sounds, it is very well acted by Charlie Plummer with a good supporting cast including Andy Garcia, Taylor Russell, and Beth Grant.

It is fairly realistic portrayal of mental illness and how difficult of a time care givers have dealing with the sufferer. They also show the character being given different drugs that either fail or have terrible side effects.

The problem with mental illness is that is so difficult to get measurable results - that is, if your BP is 145/90 and the doctor gives you a pill and is now 120/80 the pill is working. It is not so clear with treating mental illness.

And there is a quote (I'm paraphrasing) that really hit home for me: "if I had cancer, people would run to help me but if I have mental illness they would run away". I know from personal experience that this line is very true as a close personal friend suffering from mental illness said something eerily similar.

Of course there are "Hollywood" touches and clichés but I recommend that you see it.