The protagonist is a lovely actress, and Alan Cummings is adorable, but the drama is predictable and lacking. I have not read the book but I was hoping that this film was really going to unpack the trauma of sexual assault victims. Instead it focuses more on Holmes' character, a bipolar/schizophrenic addict who fidgets a lot, and her relationship with Benita. In fact their surface level friendship takes up a good portion of the film but it's not terribly interesting. They have a couple of giggly late night chat sessions, get drunk a couple of times, and wax poetic about life, but other than being broken, which apparently every character is in some capacity, I don't see what they have in common. I'm a trauma victim, I just don't see bonding over mental illness as a positive thing. I also really disliked how preachy this film feels, characters constantly drop feel good lines about beauty, honesty and rebirth, it feels like a Pinterest board full of inspirational quotes, and they like to show broken objects constantly to remind you of how broken the characters are, but unlike objects people cannot be repaired with some gold epoxy resin. And that's the big drawback here, a woman who was raped almost never discusses or receives therapy for it, and we're suppose to believe she picks up and moves on. Sexual trauma is a life time affliction, and it would take way longer for this woman to acclimate post trauma than it depicts in the film. It honestly undermines the severity of mental health in pursuit of touting some flowery speech and feel good moments. I think Katie Holmes would have been better sticking to Pinterest.
