June Movies Part 2: Inside Out 2, Brats, Am I OK?

Seeking a psychological breakthrough this week? So are the protagonists of these three movies!

Inside Out 2: I mean, do I even need to say it? We all loved Inside Out, and the sequel (directed by Kelsey Mann and written by Dave Holstein and Meg LeFauve) gives us more of the same. Now, our girl Riley has turned thirteen, and is officially entering the big bad world of puberty. As such, a new set of emotions enter into her brain alongside the old stalwarts of Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger. The new emotions consist of Embarrassment, Envy, Ennui... and they are led by Anxiety. You can probably see where this is going.

When Riley and her best friends head to an overnight hockey training camp, Anxiety takes over the console and starts driving her actions, overthinking and catastrophizing every interaction she has. In the meantime, Joy & co. embark on a journey through Riley’s brain to find and restore her Sense of Self. Along the way we get some beautiful metaphors about core beliefs, as well as some hilarity involving sar-chasms and the stream of consciousness.

Much like the original, this movie is marvelously inventive and poignant, finding ways to talk about the difficult emotions that overtake us in adolescence and often persist into adulthood. It is particularly meaningful how Anxiety overtakes Joy - much of adulthood feels like a desperate bid to reclaim the Joy we felt during childhood after all. The movie arrives at a wonderful conclusion, but we can all only hope to have such emotional balance as Riley eventually achieves. So watch this film and then call up your therapist - there’s a lot of work left to be done!

Am I OK? Max has weirdly classified this film as a romantic comedy, and I’m not quite sure why, apart from that label providing a reassurance that the ending won’t be terribly devastating. But otherwise, this is a gentle and lovely movie about a 32-year-old woman, Lucy (Dakota Johnson), who has only just realized that she is gay. As if that weren’t enough to be dealing with, her best friend, Jane (Sonoya Mizuno) has gotten a promotion at work and will be moving to London. So, Lucy's life is somewhat imploding, and we get to watch how she navigates it all.

Written by Lauren Pomerantz and directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, you can let this movie gently wash over you. It’s a funny and moving coming out story. It also serves as a reminder that no matter what your gender or sexuality, dating strangers is always a horrifyingly stressful proposition; and in this case, the hurdles feel especially difficult. But this is less a story about Lucy's love life, and more about her loving friendship with Jane. The two women are such wonderful friends, supportive and usually aware of each other’s every thought. This movie serves as a perfect chronicle of the highs and lows of female friendship and how two besties can navigate a rough patch, only to come out with an even stronger bond. So, watch this film and then give your BFF a call. Or better yet, watch this movie with your BFF and revel in the most romantic relationship of all: friendship.

Brats: Directed by Andrew McCarthy, this is a documentary about the origin of the term Brat Pack and the subsequent impact it had on the 80s actors who were considered to be a member of the Pack, including McCarthy himself. I was expecting this movie to consist of McCarthy thoughtfully interviewing fellow members of the Brat Pack, but not really participating in the movie himself - after all, wouldn’t it be meta to just have the documentarian be a Brat Packer who is showcasing that this is the direction in which he took his career? But alas, ‘twas not to be.

Instead, we get what feels like a 90-minute therapy session where McCarthy hogs the majority of the screen time. He does interview other folks, but no one seems as obsessed as him with unravelling what this term did to their career. They’ve all moved on, but McCarthy seems determined to hold on to a grudge. He does eventually have an interesting tete a tete with David Blum, the journalist who wrote the infamous article that coined the term in 1985, but at that point, their conversation just feels like a re-hash of all the other conversations he has had with Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, etc.

If you are an ardent fan of the Brat Pack, maybe this movie will move the needle for you. But overall, it feels like a bit of fluff with very little substance. Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald declined to take part in the film, and all that does is make me wish I was watching a documentary about them instead. Spare yourself the trouble and just watch The Breakfast Club for the true Brat Pack experience.