MOVIE REVIEW by Lucas Allen: ‘Where’d you go Bernadette’ slow, unsatisfying

Where’d You Go Bernadette
(Annapurna Pictures)

By Lucas Allen

Much like Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater has carved his own identity as a filmmaker, making movies about relatable characters audiences can pour their empathy towards.
Much like some of his other films, Linklater’s adaptation of the Maria Semple novel “Where’d You Go Bernadette” is about a character’s journey of self-discovery. It’s also about an audience’s struggle to find any empathy towards a challenging character.
Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) is a successful architect before a professional setback forces her to abandon her career and start a family in Seattle with her husband Elgie (Billy Crudup). Although she’s proud of their brilliant teenage daughter Bee (Emma Nelson), she becomes disenfranchised to the point she’s develops social anxiety and hostility toward her next-door neighbor Audrey (Kristen Wiig) and keeps her house and yard in bad condition.
Her only use of communication is through a virtual assistant that unbeknownst to her was a scam made by a Russian cell. Elgie then starts to feel concern for his wife’s well-being when he finds out she’s been hoarding different pills in their medicine cabinet.
But while Elgie tries to seek advice from Dr. Kurtz (Judy Greer), Bernadette talks with an old colleague (Laurence Fishburne) about wanting to make that next step in her life. So, as her family tries to get her help, she makes an unexpected escape before taking the trip to Antarctica her family already planned. It’s there where she starts to rediscover her passion for architecture, and tries to convince a research station about making new additions to their facility in the southern hemisphere.
It seems the film version of the book was trying to mean well about the nature of the main character. However, the script is stretching the story too much to make us care when there’s too many layers to unpeel. The pacing in the first half feels slow and uneventful testing the audience’s patience if they try not to fall asleep before the second half. Once the second half does happen, the movie makes up for it with its stunning Icelandic locations doubling for Antarctica.
Ultimately, the movie hinges on the main character to try to relate with the audience, but it’s hampered by the fact she’s so poorly written. As in the book, she’s supposed to be neurotic and unhinged before she takes the journey. But it’s the ridiculous nature of the script that makes us question her more as the movie goes on leading to her ultimate goal in the end. It makes the experience pretty frustrating, confusing any viewer what to overall think of the story. Maybe if the script were ironed out, or the film’s running time trimmed, it could’ve been the crowd-pleasing film its destined to be.
Though her character is questionable at best, Blanchett still commits to the role with ferocious intensity. She manages to bring personality to an otherwise bland drama and a very stretched script to work with. Her co-stars also give some good performances with Crudup and Nelson displaying just the right amount of talent as a father and daughter duo. The most unnecessary character, one that could’ve been cut and it wouldn’t have mattered, is Audrey, though Wiig has some shines in some good momentdespite that fact.
Linklater meant well, but he couldn’t save Where’d You Go Bernadette from a case of an adaptation gone awry. What worked on paper doesn’t translate well to the screen despite some stellar acting. It’s also proof that nothing comes out good in the dog days of summer.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for some strong language and drug material)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 2.25 Stars (Out of Four)