Tully

The hardships faced by a woman raising children while giving birth to another—with little help from the dad—are given the Diablo Cody treatment in Tully, the second movie in which screenwriter Cody, director Jason Reitman and actress Charlize Theron have joined forces. They worked together before on the caustic comedy Young Adult, and this one makes that one look like an ice cream social party featuring bounce houses and unicorns. (For the purpose of this analogy, the unicorns would have to remain outside of the bounce houses to prevent people from being impaled on their majestic horns.) Theron is all kinds of magnificent as Marlo, a mother of two getting ready to give birth to her third, and getting her ass kicked physically and emotionally. Her husband, Drew (Ron Livingston), while not complete scum, should probably take off the headphones at night and go the extra mile to help keep the household in order and his wife sane. Marlo's well-off brother Craig (Mark Duplass) gets his sis a special gift: a night nanny to help with the baby and household chores so she can grab some sleep. Tully (Mackenzie Davis) arrives like an angel in bohemian clothing and immediately helps brighten Marlo's downer moods. Theron makes physical and mental exhaustion totally enthralling, and the moments where Marlo can't take it anymore and lets the world have it are barnburners. Theron is a miraculous actress, and she gets a nice counterpart in Davis, who represents a sort of free spirit Marlo can't seem to muster. Davis does everything and more with her screen time. I'm doubting 2018 will give us many screen duos as captivating as this one.