Review: Where’d You Go Bernadette

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

PLOT: When her mentally ill mother, Bernadette (Cate Blanchett), vanishes, young Bee (Emma Nelson) and her father, Elgin (Billy Crudup) try to figure out what happened to her and when, if ever, she’s coming home.

REVIEW: Right off the bat, it was clear that there was something very wrong with WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE. There are certain films, such as the recent WELCOME TO MARWEN and the now infamous THE BOOK OF HENRY that you can tell, right from the get-go, are going to be trouble. It could be performances that seem off, a musical score that doesn’t fit or a tone that seems disastrously off-kilter – and sadly WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE suffers from all three. It’s hard to imagine where so many talented people could go so wrong, but sure enough, this ranks as one of the few disasters in the careers of many of the folks involved.

Based on the novel by Maria Semple, which was supposedly written in a way that would make a film adaptation a tough nut to crack, it’s not hard to imagine WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE working much better on the page than on the big screen. While director Richard Linklater has a rich history as one of the most empathetic directors, this quality seems lacking in his depiction of Cate Blanchett’s titular character, who I suppose is meant to be quirky and lovable, but instead comes off as insufferable.

Blanchett sinks her teeth into the part by swinging for the fences, but this does not rank as one of her better performances. If Bernadette has any humanity whatsoever Blanchett and Linklater seem incapable of getting it up there on the screen, with the character coming across as an unlikable cartoon. She’s shown to be narcissistic and horrifically manic right from the start, with her hoarding medication, constantly lashing out at her neighbors (and anyone else unlucky enough to cross her path) and causing pandemonium wherever she goes. The sitcom-style musical score works overtime to make us think this is cute and quirky, but instead Bernadette comes off like a psychopath wreaking havoc on all in her wake.

The film tries to explain away and excuse the chaos she causes by showing us that she’s an architectural genius whose been stifled by the fact that she hasn’t worked in twenty years. No real credible excuse for her not having worked is ever given, with it explained that one of her projects was demolished by an unscrupulous real estate developer, but she’s never really shown to have any kind of emotional tie to her work. If architecture was her passion, then why does she live in a crumbling project she’s never bothered to put any real work into?

As such, the movie’s depiction of mental illness seems ill-advised, with it stated that all of her problems emerge from this artistic crisis, even when, in a silly twist, her “quirks” put her family in the crosshairs of the Russian mob and the F.B.I. Blanchett’s good enough that in a precious few moments some humanity shines through, such as a scene where she dines with her former mentor (Lawrence Fishburne) but it comes too late in the film to make us care about Bernadette.

The rest of her family doesn’t fare much better. Billy Crudup is utterly wasted in a thin role as her tech genius husband, with everyone frustrated by how much he works, even though he’s shown to be the only breadwinner for a family that enjoys the finer things in life, such as a last-minute cruise to the Antarctic. He also invents a device that can read minds, yet no one on-screen seems to think this is a big deal. He comes off as wildly passive and indulgent to Bernadette's illness until all of a sudden he’s not, and we’re clearly meant to side with their daughter (played by newcomer Emma Nelson) who doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with her mum. Nelson’s performance is arguably the only thing about the movie that works, with Linklater, as always, having a fine eye for new talent. Kristen Wiig also does a good job humanizing a two-dimensional character, with her as Bernadette’s nosy neighbor. I couldn’t help but wish she’d played the title role instead of Blanchett, who ultimately seems miscast.

I will give Linklater and company some credit for the later scenes, which are set in the Antarctic and were reportedly shot in Greenland. Some of the scenery is impressive, but then there are also hilariously amateurish moments, such as a climactic heart-to-heart between Crudup and Nelson that seems to have been shot with horrible green screen – and that isn’t the only part of the movie that suffers from this problem (inexcusable in mainstream studio effort). Also note how clumsy some of the doctored (photoshopped?) photographs of Blanchett and Crudup together in their youth look. Slapdash effects like these don’t help the film.

As bad as WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE is (and it is quite bad), all involved will bounce back. Linklater, Blanchett, Crudup, and financier Megan Ellison have all made countless great movies and will certainly make many more. This is a blip for all of them, but it still stands as one of the most ill-advised efforts for all involved, and would best serve everyone involved if it came and went from theaters pretty quickly.

Where'd You Go Bernadette

NOT GOOD

4

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