SUZE

 Indie icon Michaela Watkins delights in this sweet and sensitive comedy about a mother who rediscovers her own identity in the wake of her daughter’s departure for college. Still reeling from the discovery of her husband’s affair, newly single Suze (Michaela Watkins) is confronted with yet another major life upheaval when her daughter, Brooke, unexpectedly decides to leave home for college. But Suze isn’t the only one struggling, and is shortly thereafter roped into taking care of Brooke’s ex-boyfriend Gage (Charlie Gillespie) as he recovers from an unsuccessful, post-breakup suicide attempt. Though Suze is at first flummoxed by Gage’s neverending state of boyish adolescent stupor, their misadventures soon blossom into an unlikely friendship and mutual yearning for self-discovery beyond the roles they’d become so attached to: mother, boyfriend, or otherwise. Though there are frequent laughs to be had throughout Suze, chiefly as our hapless protagonist clashes with Gage’s lackadaisical stoner sensibilities, the film shines in softer moments where we get a fulsome sense of the isolation both are contending with internally: a parent without a child and vice versa. In a breakout performance, Charlie Gillespie in particular brings an impressive vulnerability and poignancy to the high-school slacker archetype. Boasting a memorable dynamic between its two leads, this feel-good film about finding your groove will have audiences in stitches.