by Frank Calvillo
One of the things some people may have to get past when watching Quitters for the first time is how the film jumps immediately into the deep end of its plot without any backstory whatsoever. Personally I found this to be a bit disconcerting since, as audience members, we don’t even know these people we are watching, let alone what it is that’s gotten them into such a state of emotional turmoil. Normally, this would make it harder to piece together who the characters are and what they are about, but writer/director Noah Pritzker’s lovable and intelligent screenplay ensures this is never an issue through his collection of well-written characters and their instantly-relatable struggles.
In Quitters, teenager Clark (Ben Konigsberg) is struggling to cope with his crumbling home life, which includes his father Roger (Greg Germann), to whom he is unable to relate, and his mother May (Mira Sorvino), who has recently left for rehab in order to treat her growing depression. Unable to cope, Clark seeks comfort and approval from a number of people in his life, including his teacher Mr. Becker (Kieran Culkin), his friend Etta (Kara Haywood), and his new girlfriend Natalia (Morgan Turner), in an effort to find a place where he feels safe.
Hands down, Quitters contains probably one of the best screenplays of the year so far. Every aspect of the film’s story had such a wonderful feel and flow to it, never once feeling forced or inauthentic. There a great many emotional moments that take place throughout the film, but the magic of Pritzker’s script is how he manages to make them appear so organic. The same is certainly true of the film’s dialogue, which ranges from darkly humorous, like when Clark asks Natalia, “You play volleyball with Etta, right? Do you think her depression is slowing her down?” to honest and upfront, like the moment when Clark begs Natalia, “Why can’t we just have fun together?” to which she replies, “Because it doesn’t feel like fun right now.” Not only do the dialogue and the screenplay help the film from becoming the cliche-ridden mess it could have been, but they also allow the audience the luxury of sitting back and not knowing where this cinematic journey will take them. I remember hearing Frances McDormand comment once that everyone thinks they can write a screenplay without fully comprehending that there is a fine art to it. If there is, Pritzker has indeed mastered it.
While portraits of damaged families are nothing new in terms of storytelling, it’s difficult to find examples which don’t feel stock or one-dimensional. Quitters offers nothing but real people with genuine conflicts which aren’t sugarcoated in the slightest. This certainly true of May’s sudden fear and disenchantment with the life she thought she once wanted, which now feels like a trap. Dealing with all of this, Roger at times has the ability to come off insensitive by showing up at May’s rehab unannounced and forcing plans onto Clark. However, he’s not insensitive. He’s just at the end of his rope from trying to hold everything together and simply wants his family back.
Clark’s reaction to everything his family is going through is more than normal given the circumstances he’s faced with. He so desperately wants to fit into any social group, setting, or family that isn’t his own as a way of dealing and escaping. Clark is in great pain; he just doesn’t know how to deal with it other than running away. Clark has become so incredibly curious and inquisitive about everyone he encounters that he almost comes off as invasive and somewhat judgmental. He wants to know what people are about, how they deal with their struggles, how they’ve gotten to where they are today, and how they manage their overall existence. Ultimately though, Clark becomes even more upset because he doesn’t have what he thinks everyone else has.
The entire ensemble of Quitters deserves universal praise, with a handful of notable stand-outs. Bolstered by one of the richest characters she’s had in years, Sorvino turns in a finely tuned performance, making May’s condition seem real and heartbreaking. Meanwhile Germann excels in a straight role and perfectly embodies a man struggling to keep his family together, nearly walking away with the film as a result. Culkin is fantastic as a sort of older version of all the film’s younger characters. His Mr. Becker comes off as someone who has survived everything they went through. Finally, Konigsberg nails it with what is undoubtedly the film’s trickiest part by making sure that although we become frustrated by Clark at times, in the end we empathize with him.
A little more exposition would have certainly helped Quitters, especially in seeing what led all the characters to the current state of their lives. But I suppose the whole point of the film isn’t to research the past, but rather to explore where these people are in this moment and time and ponder where they might go in the future. If the film’s humor doesn’t always work with the nature of the characters’ struggles, it hardly matters because the overall nature of the the film is easy to become engrossed with. It’s a rarity to find such a unique film which manages to weave a story so sweet and honest that also happens to feature an assortment of carefully drawn-out individuals. In the era of tentpoles, Quitters is proof that such films are still out there.