BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY
***
Director: Tate Taylor
Screenplay: Amanda Idoko
Principal cast:
Allison Janney
Mila Kunis
Regina Hall
Awkwafina
Juliette Lewis
Wanda Sykes
Country: UK/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 96 mins.
Australian release date: 3 June 2021.
Tate Taylor’s Breaking News In Yuba County is what you might call a ‘deadly’ comedy, one with more than a few things to say about tabloid media and fame and how they affect the behaviour of ordinary people. It’s a bit of a departure from some of Taylor’s previous work, films like The Help, Get On Up and The Girl On The Train, as the body-count increases and the plot gets more and more off the wall. The movie has a really strong ensemble cast, mainly made up of women: Alison Janney, Regina Hall, Awkwafina, Mila Kunis, Wanda Sykes, Ellen Barkin and Juliette Lewis. What a line-up! Unfortunately, though, they are let down by the script’s uncertain tone.
Sue Buttons (Allison Janney) is a down-trodden married woman who works at a call centre where nobody seems to notice her. She’s practically invisible or, at least, she feels that way. On the morning of her birthday, her husband Karl (Matthew Modine), leaves for work without remembering her big day and her workmates present a cake to another colleague, ignoring Sue. Even when collecting an iced birthday cake - which she’s ordered for herself - she finds that her name has been misspelt and the sales assistant refuses to correct it. As a way of coping with her obscurity, she practises affirmations, repeatedly chanting aphorisms like “I am strong, I am important” to give herself confidence. Resolving to be more affirmative, she goes to confront Karl at the bank where he works, only to see him leaving with a bunch of flowers. Convinced they’re for her, Sue follows him but is shocked when he pulls up at a seedy motel. What follows brings her into contact with, not just her husband’s mistress, but also a couple of bad-ass crims (Awkwafina and Clifton Collins Jr.), a bag containing three million dollars, a pair of detectives (Regina Hall and T.C. Matherne), Karl’s none-too-bright brother Petey (Jimmi Simpson), his boss Rita (Wanda Sykes) and her truck-driving girlfriend Debbie (Ellen Barkin) and, most important of all, her TV reporter half-sister Nancy (Mila Kunis) and television talk-show host Gloria Michaels (Juliette Lewis). Voila! Suddenly, Sue ain’t invisible anymore, instead she’s basking in the glow of instant celebrity.
Alison Janney is fabulous in Breaking News In Yuba County. Her demeanour as Sue Buttons is a long way from her iron-willed ‘CJ’ in The West Wing or the bitchy mother LaVona in I, Tonya. Here, she’s hunched and insecure, her rounded shoulders and pinched mouth signalling her defeated approach to life. That is, until her new-found fame begins to put a spring in her step and Sue’s hidden talents emerge. The large cast bring their characters to life convincingly: all are terrific but Wanda Sykes has the best lines; Awkwafina is menacingly funny until she’s just menacing; and Lewis and Kunis perfectly encapsulate the morality-free world of tabloid TV. This is the first feature film screenplay for Amanda Idoko, which perhaps explains the movie’s imprecise tenor. The script wants to occupy the same off-beat territory as the Coen brothers’ movies but it gets too dark as the violence increases and the comedy diminishes. The tonal shift is disturbing and isn’t helped by the spritely score. Natchez, Mississippi, stands in for Yuba County, California, but the film’s depiction of small-town America could have been set anywhere in the States.
Breaking News In Yuba County is fun, for a while. The plot is clever and the performances are terrific but the director seems to have had trouble deciding just what he wanted his film to be.
Screenplay: Amanda Idoko
Principal cast:
Allison Janney
Mila Kunis
Regina Hall
Awkwafina
Juliette Lewis
Wanda Sykes
Country: UK/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 96 mins.
Australian release date: 3 June 2021.
Tate Taylor’s Breaking News In Yuba County is what you might call a ‘deadly’ comedy, one with more than a few things to say about tabloid media and fame and how they affect the behaviour of ordinary people. It’s a bit of a departure from some of Taylor’s previous work, films like The Help, Get On Up and The Girl On The Train, as the body-count increases and the plot gets more and more off the wall. The movie has a really strong ensemble cast, mainly made up of women: Alison Janney, Regina Hall, Awkwafina, Mila Kunis, Wanda Sykes, Ellen Barkin and Juliette Lewis. What a line-up! Unfortunately, though, they are let down by the script’s uncertain tone.
Sue Buttons (Allison Janney) is a down-trodden married woman who works at a call centre where nobody seems to notice her. She’s practically invisible or, at least, she feels that way. On the morning of her birthday, her husband Karl (Matthew Modine), leaves for work without remembering her big day and her workmates present a cake to another colleague, ignoring Sue. Even when collecting an iced birthday cake - which she’s ordered for herself - she finds that her name has been misspelt and the sales assistant refuses to correct it. As a way of coping with her obscurity, she practises affirmations, repeatedly chanting aphorisms like “I am strong, I am important” to give herself confidence. Resolving to be more affirmative, she goes to confront Karl at the bank where he works, only to see him leaving with a bunch of flowers. Convinced they’re for her, Sue follows him but is shocked when he pulls up at a seedy motel. What follows brings her into contact with, not just her husband’s mistress, but also a couple of bad-ass crims (Awkwafina and Clifton Collins Jr.), a bag containing three million dollars, a pair of detectives (Regina Hall and T.C. Matherne), Karl’s none-too-bright brother Petey (Jimmi Simpson), his boss Rita (Wanda Sykes) and her truck-driving girlfriend Debbie (Ellen Barkin) and, most important of all, her TV reporter half-sister Nancy (Mila Kunis) and television talk-show host Gloria Michaels (Juliette Lewis). Voila! Suddenly, Sue ain’t invisible anymore, instead she’s basking in the glow of instant celebrity.
Alison Janney is fabulous in Breaking News In Yuba County. Her demeanour as Sue Buttons is a long way from her iron-willed ‘CJ’ in The West Wing or the bitchy mother LaVona in I, Tonya. Here, she’s hunched and insecure, her rounded shoulders and pinched mouth signalling her defeated approach to life. That is, until her new-found fame begins to put a spring in her step and Sue’s hidden talents emerge. The large cast bring their characters to life convincingly: all are terrific but Wanda Sykes has the best lines; Awkwafina is menacingly funny until she’s just menacing; and Lewis and Kunis perfectly encapsulate the morality-free world of tabloid TV. This is the first feature film screenplay for Amanda Idoko, which perhaps explains the movie’s imprecise tenor. The script wants to occupy the same off-beat territory as the Coen brothers’ movies but it gets too dark as the violence increases and the comedy diminishes. The tonal shift is disturbing and isn’t helped by the spritely score. Natchez, Mississippi, stands in for Yuba County, California, but the film’s depiction of small-town America could have been set anywhere in the States.
Breaking News In Yuba County is fun, for a while. The plot is clever and the performances are terrific but the director seems to have had trouble deciding just what he wanted his film to be.