Words on Bathroom Walls
Synopsis: Diagnosed with a mental illness during his senior year of high school, a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition.
Movie Review:
“Words on Bathroom Walls” was directed by Thor Freudenthal and is a coming of age love story with amazing performances by Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell. This movie does a great job in the way it portrays Schizophrenia from the terrifying voices to the imaginary people. It follows the journey of Charlie Plummer’s character Adam as he deals with this disorder. The movie does have some humor when Adam sees three imaginary people: Rebecca played by Anna Sophia Robb who tells him all of his happy thoughts, Devon Bostick as Joaquin who tells him to relax and not to take meds, and Lobo Sebastian as the bodyguard who tells him to be aggressive. All three of these imaginary people are funny, scary and very weird. The movie turns into a love story when Adam meets Maya played by Taylor Russell who knocked it out of the park with her performance. Her character is smart, beautiful and witty, but she doesn’t have a great home life. Adam and Maya are likeable, and you can’t help but root for their relationship throughout the movie. It was exciting to see Andy Garcia as Father Patrick who helps Adam get though his mental problems and live his life. Even though Andy Garcia has a limited role, he gives a powerful performance. Both Molly Parker (Adam’s mother) and Walton Goggins (her new boyfriend) are fantastic especially Walton Goggins who near the end has an emotional scene that brought me to tears. It was my favorite scene in the film. The only issue I had with this movie was it’s a little too predictable. This movie portrays mental illness realistically with great acting, and a romantic love story. This is one of my favorite films all year…I loved it. I am giving “Words on Bathroom Walls” a 4.5 stars out of 5.
Director: Thor Freudenthal
Cast: Charlie Plummer, Andy Garcia, Taylor Russell, AnnaSophia Robb, Devon Bostick, Lobo Sebastian, Beth Grant with molly Parker and Walton Goggins
runtime: 110 minutes