I’LL BE RIGHT THERE – Review by Liz Braun
I’ll Be Right There stars Edie Falco as a beleaguered, middle-aged mom and full-fledged member of the “sandwich generation” — balancing care for her own mother with the needs of her adult children.
It’s rich material, and the eminently watchable Falco is surrounded by a terrific cast; what this ensemble needed was a better script.
Directed by Brendan Walsh and written by Jim Beggarly, I’ll Be Right There is entertaining enough, but until the third act it lacks depth and veers too often into sitcom territory. Considering how rarely the lives of ordinary middle-aged women are viewed on-screen, it’s a wasted opportunity.
Falco stars as Wanda, a small-town bookkeeper with adult children who are not fully launched and a slightly dotty aging mother. The movie opens with Wanda and her mother Grace (Jeannie Berlin) at the doctors office. Grace is terrified she has lung cancer but — good news! — it’s just leukemia.
Wanda next rushes over to the local hospital to comfort her daughter Sarah (Kayli Carter) who is very pregnant and convinced she’s killed the baby by having sex with her boyfriend Eugene (Jack Mulhern).
The baby is fine. Another crisis averted.
Then it’s time for Wanda to rush off to a therapy session with her son Mark (Charlie Tahan), a former addict with little regard for the truth about anything. Mark is being fired by his therapist but assures his mother he has a job house-sitting and caring for three dogs. Too bad he winds up in jail.
In short order we then meet a lovely friend (Michael Beach) Wanda hasn’t seen since high school, the woman (Sepideh Moafi) Wanda is sleeping with, the man (Michael Rapaport) Wanda is sleeping with and Wanda’s ex-husband (Bradley Whitford). They are all one-dimensional window dressing.
Wanda concerns herself with finding some extra money so her daughter Sarah can have the wedding she always wanted.
People keep asking Wanda, “What do you want?” in an earnest way.
Up to this point the film feels shallow and meandering; that intrusive and off-putting soundtrack doesn’t help. Around the time Wanda’s son Mark decides to join the army, I’ll Be Right There stops teetering around and rights itself. Various characters berate Wanda for always dropping everything to help her children, but in emotionally charged scenes near the end of the movie she makes it clear that being with family suits her just fine.
Falco anchors every scene, but it’s a tough slog when almost everyone else around her is so woefully underwritten. Her performance is the main reason to see I’ll Be Right There.
