countfloydlife
This film has a few chuckle worthy moments, but I find most of it cringe worthy. Whenever Hollywood decides to portray a mental health issue, it is almost always underplayed or just way over the top. As someone who has had BPD his entire life, I feel this film is a reflection of the second option. There are some elements of Alice's behavior that I can identify with, but certainly not too that extreme a degree. Just because someone has BPD it doesn't mean that they are a total train wreck. Even when we see Alice when she is "medicated", her behavior to me is unrealistic for someone with this condition ALONE. This is only my take based on my own experiences though, and realize that everyone's situation can be completely different from mine. If you want to get a more fact based, serious point of view on BPD, there are several good YouTube videos out there. This is just entertainment, which at the end of the day is really all it's intended to be, from a business point of view. Even on that basis alone though, I still don't find it as entertaining as a film like Lars and the Real Girl.
Charles Herold (cherold)
Welcome to Me is a distinctly odd movie about a woman with a boderline personality disorder diagnosis and millions of dollars in lottery winnings who decides to have a vanity TV show all about her. It's an interesting idea, and it kept my attention, but I feel it wasn't quite the movie it might have been.First off I'd like to talk about borderlines, because I've known a couple. Googling around I've found a few articles describing this movie as either a good or bad portrayal of BPD. Since BPD simply means you exhibit a large number of traits from a list (impulsivity, self-harm, etc.), Alice is acceptable as a borderline. And since being borderline can exist with other conditions, like depression or narcissism, you can't really complain about less typical borderline behavior.That being said, Alice doesn't seem like borderlines I've known, and lacks some commonly known BPD qualities. For example, borderlines are often very good at feigning normalcy. I once saw a BPD friend, ranting and raving after sneaking out of a psyche ward and trying to kill herself, instantly become calm and rational when the cops came to check on her. Many psychiatrists don't like working with borderlines because they can feel tricked when that patient convinces their doctor that they're fine now right before a suicide attempt. Alice, on the other hand, is just purely odd. And her oddness seems to come entirely from her mental illness. It is as though Kristen Wiig was so concerned with getting the symptoms right that she never thought about who Alice would be without her mental illness. But in truth, people with mental illnesses have traits that have nothing to do with being mentally ill (although some psychiatrists do try to fit everything about their patients into their diagnosis).Because of this, Alice is an interesting character but not a really compelling one. Meanwhile, the intriguing premise never quite gels. Is the movie a satire of celebrity and our fascination with trashy talk shows? Is it an attempt to portray mental illness? Is it an attempt to get laughs out of mental illness? I never really felt this movie had a vision, or a point of view. Like the main character, the story feels like it's a bunch of ideas stuck together rather than a cohesive drama.While the movie feels a little undercooked, I did enjoy it. Wiig may seem more like a mildly autistic narcissist than a borderline, and the story may feel unsubstantial, but it is amusing to watch Alice create her entirely peculiar show and get into weird dietary fixations. The movie may not make a coherent whole, but the pieces are pretty good in themselves.
leonblackwood
Review: This movie had a really strange storyline, which I didn't find that funny, and the strange world that, lottery winner, Alice Kleig, (Kristen Wiig) built around herself was completely bonkers. Before Alice wins the $86million jackpot, she spent most of her life watching TV, and regularly sees her psychiatrist, Dr. Daryl Moffet, played by Tim Robbins, who helps her with her borderline personality disorder. She is also addicted to watching the Oprah Winfrey show, which she knows word for word, and she takes medication to control her outbursts and mood swings. When she wins the lottery, she decides to be in the audience of a live talk show, and when she is called on stage to help the presenter, she ends up taking control of the show by telling the audience her life story, which was completely weird. As the show is in debt and the brothers/managers, Gabe Ruskin (Wes Bentley) and Rich (James Marsden) need a lot of cash to keep the show running, April offers them millions to have her own show, all about herself. Rich accepts the proposal, against everyone's wishes, and her show turns out to be a complete disaster but as she keeps on pumping money into the project, she has the right to demand what ever she wants. As the show is only about her and her own little world, a lot of people leave the show because they can't put up with her strange demands. After a while, she comes to her senses and she starts to do good with her money, except for funding the ridiculous show which has no meaning whatsoever. I personally found the movie weird, and the fact that she jumped onto any man's bones, once they gave her attention, just made it go from bad to worse. The only saviour for the film was that she didn't change her expressions, even when she was asking for the weirdest of things, which made it slightly funny but apart from that, I didn't really see the point of the film. It does prove that having loads of money, really isn't for everyone, and she was totally better of when she was in her own little world, taking her medication. Anyway, although it's an original comedy, it basically wasn't for me, and I can understand why it didn't go down well at the box office. Disappointing!Round-Up: Kristen Wiig, 42, has a dry sense of humour, which has worked in movies like Walk Hard, Knocked Up, MacGruber, Date Night, Paul,her biggest hit, Bridesmaids, Girl Most Likely, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, Her and Anchorman 2, and she has proved that she can turn her skills to serious roles like the Martian, The Diary of a Teenage Girl and the Skeleton Twins. She recently stars in the new Ghostbusters movie, Zoolander 2 and Masterminds, so she has joined the elite group of comedians, like Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, who all bring in hefty profits at the box office. She is much better in her cameo roles than when she is taking the lead, mainly because her dry sense of humour can only last a certain amount of time and it does become a bit tedious after a while. It's the first movie directed by Shira Piven, 54, who has also starred in Bob Roberts, Anchorman and Step Brothers. With her previous movies being with Tim Robins, who also starred in this movie, and Will Ferrell, it's not surprising that Ferrell produced this movie alongside her. I didn't really like the film that much, because I just didn't find it that funny and the storyline was just too crazy. It was good to see Tim Robins back on the big screen and Joan Cusack, Jennifer Jason Leigh and James Marsden were quite funny but that was about it.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $650,000I recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/comedies starring Kristen Wiig, Wes Bentley, Linda Cardellini, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, James Marsden,Thomas Mann and Alan Tudyk. 3/10
Reno Rangan
This is actually a good film that misled by its low rating. But the end should have been really better, other than that the rest of the film was enjoyable. Another small scale movie and another excellent performance by Kristen Wiig. The story of a single woman with the borderline personality disorder. After winning the $80 million through the lottery draw, she decides to own a television show to talk about her personal life. She begins to lose her close ones as the result of her out talk about them, but can she fix it and how is the remaining.This is a unique story, not like that you see it often in the movies. Apart from Wiig, the rest of the supporting cast was not bad, but very sad to see such a good looking wonderful actress like Linda Cardellin in a small role. If you hate slow pace, this movie might be an average to you, but others who won't mind will find it better. What I surprised to know is that most of the film critics thumb upped for it than the film goers. But I still suggest it, mainly for the film fanatics, just give it a try and so you might like it than what you've heard about it.7/10
