Family drama takes a turn left in this biting satire. That’s the way actor/director Jesse Eisenberg planned it. Somewhere in a nondescript Indiana ‘burb bedroom, teenager and budding singer/songwriter Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard, Stranger Things) broadcasts his milk-toast music to his podcast audience. When his mom Evelyn (Julianne Moore) interrupts, he goes ballistic. That’s how their loving and antagonistic relationship works. They press each other’s buttons. He is oblivious to anything socially relevant. She runs a women’s crisis center. They clash and makeup. Clash and makeup.  In Eisenberg’s satiric world, being woke is never enough and those who think they’re savvy are not without faults. Each character’s dialogue well represents them, and the annoying, loving mom/son bickering is routine all over America. Moore establishes the humorless Evelyn well. Wolfhard is suitably self-absorbed, and Alisha Boe (13 Reasons Why) makes a beguiling Bohemian-type student.—National Newspaper Publishers Assocation

“Bitterly funny [and] clear-eyed…”—Hollywood Reporter