The movie centers around a woman named Marlo (Theron), a mother of two with a third on the way. Her youngest girl, perhaps 7 or 8, is a quiet girl who wears glasses and makes some brash observations ("Mom, what happened to your body?"). Her son, a new kindergartener, is one teachers describe as 'quirky' and displays symptoms of Asperger's or some form of autism. They live in a quiet suburban house somewhere in New York state, and they life life as a series of patterns over and over. Marlo's husband, Drew (Ron Livingston) is a good dad but, like most working fathers, is rarely seen outside family dinner and breakfast.
We see the divide as Marlo's brother introduces her to the idea of a night nanny, one of those 'high class' luxuries that affluent moms employ in order to get a good night sleep and reduce wrinkle lines. At first she rejects the idea, but with the birth of her daughter and the insurmountable struggles of diapering, changing, driving, parent-teacher conferences, sleepless nights, sore nipples, and the like - the night nanny becomes something she is willing to at least give a shot to.
Enter Tully (Mackenzie Davis), a young, pretty girl who dresses provocatively and yet seems to understand her duties far more than Marlo anticipated. Their first meeting sees Tully quietly knock on the front door at 10:30pm, enter, become accustomed to the house and layout, and quietly urge Marlo to bed. "I'll wake you when she's ready to feed." Marlo, like the audience, is concerned about letting a stranger into her house and so quickly allow her to take over. "You're just going to leave her down there with our baby?" Drew casually asks from bed. "I guess so." When you're so tired, I'm sure there can be appeal found in anything.
The movie is good at showing us that repetition from motherhood. It's a nonstop cycle that begins in the hospital and likely will continue on down until her kids move out for college. As the nights go on, Marlo stays up later to talk to Tully, to learn about her life, and in return Tully tries to make her understand how great motherhood really is. There is a physical change in Theron's performance that helps us understand the benefits of a good night sleep, and like most of her performances, she rarely misses a beat. So is Mackenzie Davis as Tully, this level-headed nanny who at first seems Mary Poppins-esque but then slowly reveals her own faults. In a later scene, the two escape motherhood for a night to drink and party in Brooklyn (their journey there is maybe the best driving montage I have ever seen). I found myself rolling my eyes at the lack of responsibility the father gets here, his absence throughout the film, and even as Marlo leaves him in charge this night, I wondered how good of an idea that even was?
The film concludes in some sort of gobsmacked way that some might see coming but I did not. It's a ploying wrap up to a story so full of beautiful moments (particularly a scene in which a teacher at a school shares a quiet, calming moment with Marlo's son) and heartbreak that I found myself despising the movie even more in the end knowing how well it likely could have been. This isn't some cryptic ending that some viewers might overlook - this is a conclusion that will polarize audiences and leave half rolling their eyes and the rest wiping their eyes from tears. I can't see a middle ground here. See it for yourself. Jason Reitman has made good films, and save for this unbelievable lapse in narrative judgement, this might have been his most poignant film to date. Even the last shot leaves us something to ponder. It shows a mother and father doing dishes, a beautiful tandem dance between them. But then look at the visuals - a stark white window divides them, and we wonder how much of a happy ending someone like Marlo will really have in the end. It's not all sunshine and rainbows.
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