It’s not totally fair to write off an early in the year Hulu debut. They did drop Ry Lane around this time last year,so Suncoast had every opportunity to be good. Ruth’s title really evoked nostalgia in me, as I was definitely *that kid* who hung out in Suncoast at the mall. The store that had all the movie memorabilia. Those were my people. But, that isn’t the Suncoast.
The Suncoast in the film is actually a real place, or based on a real place, because this semi-autobiographical coming of age drama is about a teenage girl Nico Parker) whose brother is in a special facility for those who need a lot of extra care, and are essentially on life support. Her mother (Laura Linney) spends a lot of time there with her son, and her daughter often feels neglected. So, the teenager takes advantage of no one paying attention to her to throw parties at the house, and hang out with a protester (Woody Harrelson). Oh, I didn’t mention that her brother lives in the same facility as Terry Schiavo? Yeah.
Tonally, this movie is all over the place. It was hard to watch and relate to anyone. Even with the very little she’s given, I will say Laura Linney is fantastic here. But no one seems concerned that Harrelson is hanging out with a teenage girl. He literally teaches her to drive. he’s not a creep, but people don’t know that. Her mom doesn’t know that. The acting is fine, but it really just felt like someone had an adjacent experience to one of the most controversial cases and used that experience to make a film. The film doesn’t need Terry Schiavo, it just needs to be a film about a single mom being pulled between two kids, and what that is doing to the one kid who isn’t on life support. You don’t need a Woody Harrelson character. Simplify this film.
The audio description is average. I didn’t feel like it really brought me into the film, and I think it could have easily found more ways to bring life to this story. This really just fell flat on a few levels.
Final Grade: C+
