Welcome to Me

"Every generation gets the 'Network' it deserves. For ours, obsessed with self-actualization, fame and personal branding, we get the disturbingly funny satire 'Welcome To Me,' a frolicsome comedy that gives Kristen Wiig a chance to strut her stuff." - Spirituality & Practice

“Borderline personality disorder turns out to be more of a laughing matter than it probably should be in Welcome to Me, a strange and often startlingly inspired media/mental-illness comedy. Kristen Wiig tears into a role that plays to her deadpan gifts as a woman who wins the lottery and starts her own talkshow, where she proceeds to work through her deep-seated emotional and psychological wounds on live TV.

“Not long after she’s introduced watching her massive VHS collection of infomercials and 'Oprah' reruns in a desert-town apartment that doesn’t appear to have seen much daylight since the mid-’90s, Alice Klieg finds that she’s won an $86 million jackpot. With quirky resolve, she proceeds to implement some significant life changes while her family and friends nervously offer support.

“When Alice calmly writes a $15 million check to finance her own 'Oprah'-esque talkshow, which will feature herself as the host and subject of every episode, the network chief accepts her offer. It’s here that Welcome to Me really spreads its wings. Alice offers lessons on topics like 'Matching Colors to Emotions'; proves astoundingly articulate on the subject of her illness and her treatment; and watches in critical dismay while younger actresses re-enact formative/traumatic episodes from her life.

“Alice is played with bipolar brilliance by Wiig, her extraordinary straight-faced control occasionally giving way to violent fits of fury. There’s no doubt that Alice is effectively enacting a very public, very expensive form of self-therapy, but what makes Piven’s sophomore directing effort such an offbeat delight for much of its running time is the way it privileges comedy over catharsis. True, the film’s heroine may learn a thing or two about grown-up maturity and responsibility. But as presented, Alice isn’t a puzzle that needs solving — she’s more fun unsolved, frankly — and the filmmakers seem well aware that of all the things this woman may need, our sympathy isn’t one of them.” - Variety

Showtimes

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Twin Cinema46 King Street North Waterloo, Ontario N2J2W8519-884-5112
Original Cinema6 Princess St. W. Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2X8519-884-5112

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