Addiction has long been one of Hollywood’s favorite muses. It makes for empowering, emotionally charged films about one of life’s most trying personal battles. Of course, the success and believability of these sorts of movies vary wildly: for every “Half Nelson” and “Trainspotting” there’s a “Thanks For Sharing” or “Flight” (which was fuelled by a fine performance, but in the end was little more than histrionics). Such movies are packed with personal demons, hallucinations and — in a lot of cases — triumph, a set of frames that veteran TV director Marti Noxon’s feature debut “To The Bone” fits nicely inside of.
Noxon’s film follows Ellen (Lily Collins, carrying a movie that is often undeserving of her), an anorexic 20-year-old who has bounced in and out of treatment for years, only to continue losing weight. At the start of the film, her stepmom and perpetually-working father desperately try one last program. These early scenes fail to resonate — no one acts with the urgency or desperation that their dialogue is laden with. Which is unfortunate, because Collins and her costars do a lot with a little, coming close to bearing the wounds that the script lacks. Even early on, it’s easy to see the devastating film that “To The Bone” could be, but will never become.
The last-ditch program is run by Dr. Beckham (Keanu Reeves), whose unorthodox methods never do feel that unorthodox. Nonetheless, Ellen moves into Beck’s group home with a handful of other young women and one boy, Luke (Alex Sharp, doing his best to be a worthy romantic interest). Things, of course, start off rocky and oscillate from there. Ellen struggles to meet her weight or drink Beck’s Kool-Aid, which most everybody else seems interested in at least sipping, whether or not it’s actually working for them. Things take a turn for the worse when Ellen has group therapy with her whole family (except Dad), which turns into a shouting match between her mother and step-mother, where blame is slung and the self-centered nature of all involved is on full display. Thankfully, “To The Bone” works hard to make clear that Ellen is not simply a product of family dysfunction. Her addiction, rather, has no single source and thus doesn’t have a tidy solution.
Still, “To The Bone,” dramatic and overly-earnest as it is, struggles to do justice to its sensitive subject. Which is not to say that Noxon’s film is insensitive, rather, it tries too hard to balance out the drama with moments of levity, thus struggling to establish and maintain any particular tone. Paired with the burdensome load of cliches and tropes that the script piles on, the mostly-likeable movie only just trudges along beneath its own weight. For every harrowing moment of hurt that Ellen faces, there is its romanticized, unrealistic opposite (at one point the group winds up dancing in an indoor rain simulation as though in some sort of fantastical R&B music video).
One of the most obvious failings of the film is that Collins is never allowed to be funny. She puts the drama in dramedy, while everyone else around her gets to have at least some measure of fun. It makes for an awkward imbalance. Not only does it give Ellen an icy sheen, it hits the nail too perfectly on the head: Ellen is unwilling to recognize the beauty of the world because to do so would mean coming to terms with her addiction. In doing so, though, the movie short-changes some of the struggles of her new friends, especially Luke, who is likable but never gets a compelling arc. The movie hobbles itself with this catch-22: Ellen is missing out on the world turning around her, but this particular world isn’t very compelling.
READ MORE: First Trailer For Anorexia Drama ‘To The Bone’ Starring Lily Collins & Keanu Reeves
For all the tepid pacing and uneven storytelling, though, Collins and co. do a great job of making “To The Bone” a watchable film. They are, by turns, charming and heartbreaking — even when they aren’t given much to do by the script, and the members of Beck’s program, particularly Pearl (Maya Eshet) bring an honest hurt and vulnerability to their characters. Meanwhile, Reeves is as magnetic as ever, despite being faultless as both a doctor and mentor. Where the story really succeeds is in its refusal to lay blame in any particular place, or to seek out easy solutions. Addiction creates a messy, tangled web of anguish, where the hurt is spread far and wide. While there are several narrative points that are short-shifted, “To The Bone” works hard to do justice to that reality. [C+]