FILM FRENZY

Kiernan Shipka in Wildflower (Photos: Momentum Pictures)

By Matt Brunson

WILDFLOWER
★★½ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Matt Smukler
STARS Kiernan Shipka, Dash Mihok

Taking its inspiration from a true story, Wildflower is the sort of movie that tries to put the “fun” back into “dysfunction.” In other words, it’s the sort of seriocomedy that offers a lengthy roster of endearingly wacky characters to love and a long string of amusing yet inspirational set pieces to cheer. But it’s not all merriment and melodiousness, as there are several opportunities to worry, weep, and reflect. Yes, it’s another slice-of-life tale doubling as a coming-of-age yarn, and it’s actually pretty good.

Some might see traces of CODA DNA in this picture, but that’s merely a coincidence. Like that superb Best Picture Oscar winner for 2021, this one also concerns itself with a teenage girl who mistakenly believes she can’t ever leave home because her disabled parents would be lost without her. In this case, the girl is Bambi Johnson (Kiernan Shipka), who goes by Bea because even though she was innocently named after the cartoon deer, she figured the name would only increase her chances of growing up to become a stripper. Bea is the daughter of two intellectually disabled parents: Derek (Dash Mihok, best known for playing the title character’s younger brother on the series Ray Donovan), who suffered a brain injury as a child, and Sharon (Samantha Hyde, an autistic actress making her feature-film debut), who was born with a brain disability.

The movie opens with Bea in a coma, and as family members gather around her, voice-over is employed as she relates past history starting with when her mom and dad first met and got married. Derek’s well-to-do parents, Peg (Jean Smart) and Earl (Brad Garrett), and Sharon’s hickish mom, Loretta (two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver of Silver Linings Playbook), discuss the possibility of their kids having a child of their own, all deciding it’s probably not the best idea. (Sharon has a dad, played by Twin Peaks’ Chris Mulkey, but he appears in only one flashback scene and then is presumed by the audience to be either dead or divorced for the rest of the film.) Nevertheless, Derek and Sharon do become parents, and while everyone loves little Bea, they do worry about how her intellectually challenged parents will be able to take care of her.

The bulk of Wildflower centers on Bea’s senior year in high school, during which time she falls for a classmate, a cancer survivor named Ethan (Lean on Pete’s Charlie Plummer), yet spends much of her days fretting over her parents. And everything keeps coming back to the coma, from which Bea needs to emerge before life lessons can be absorbed, futures can be prepared, hugs can be passed around like cigars from an expectant father, and the end credits can roll.

The coma and the flashback structure it produces turn out to be the weakest part of the film — Bea’s v.o. rarely adds anything of importance that can’t already be understood by viewers, and the big mystery surrounding how Bea ended up in her vegetative state turns out to be a dramatic flatliner that’s more convenient than credible.

Some of the humor is effective while some of it feels forced, and there are a few sequences that don’t work at all — Weaver’s Loretta loudly performs a song in the middle of the hospital hallway, and it’s as cringe-worthy a scene as it sounds.

The movie is instead at its best when it focuses on the conflicts between its characters. The arguments between Peg, Loretta, and Earl are effective because they’re raw and believable, and there’s also palpable tension whenever Bea gets annoyed at her parents. A scene in which Ethan explodes at Bea following a possible misunderstanding isn’t wholly convincing until Plummer really lets loose with his character’s fears and frustrations.

Indeed, the excellent performances by all concerned — vets and newbies alike — are what often allow Wildflower to blossom beyond its occasionally prickly storytelling.

(Wildflower is presently streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and Vudu, and will be added to Hulu on June 23.)