Welcome To Me

When i started working in health care, back in 1999, i met some really interesting people. I worked in all kinds of places, taking care of older people, disabled people, even worked with mentally insane people ( not the dangerous types though ). I remember one man especially, who spend everyday listening to ABBA records and watching german porn films, since he felt that ABBA and porn is a great combination. It may not sound insane when you read it, but the way he explained it did not sound like a normal person. There was also a woman who threw her clothes off in the middle of the street, because she rather walk naked infront of everyone. Every patient is unique, and now being in health care for 16 years, you are not really shocked anymore as i used to be in my youth. One of the most important things i have learned over these years, is that every patient is unique, no matter what diagnose the patient have. You have to see the person, and remember that they deserve respect. I have had some tough times, where some patients become more ill, or even die. These moments are always hard, but if you know that you did the best you could to help them, you know that you can´t do more. But let´s not get depressed, i can tell you i have had many great times with disabled people and sick people, they really taught me to make sure to live life. When it comes to motion pictures, we have seen many films based on true stories about people with different diagnosis, or handicapped. One of the best films, if you ask me is One Flew Over The Cuckoo´s Nest from 1975. The story about a mental hospital in the 70´s is simply fantastic, and shows you the difference between patients and health care staff. I would imagine you have all seen Rain Man by now ? Those who have not, you need to go down and rent this one. It can be hard to joke about sick people, but eventually there actually are films made to joke about patient situations. I think it is good that we can do this, without being cruel towards the people who live in an complicated situation. If you have not seen Patch Adams, with Robin Williams playing a doctor for kids with cancer, i highly recommend this one. Welcome To Me is a new film, not released in many theatres, that i managed to take a look at through VOD. I did see that actor Kristen Wiig have the lead role, as the woman who lives with borderline personality disorder. A complicated role, to play someone diagnosed with this serious mental illness. What got me surprised was to see that this is supposed to be a black comedy drama, and that got me interested. With very limited promotion for the film, is this something you should take the time to see, or avoid ?

Alice Klieg ( Kristen Wiig ) is a woman living with borderline personality disorder. She is living on benefits because of her mental illnes, and if there is 2 things she especially love. Buying lottery tickets, and watching Oprah tv programs. One day, while she is checking her latest lotto numbers, she wins 86 million dollars. Alice have never seen this much Money ever, so she begin to spend some with her best friend Gina ( Linda Cardellini ). Alice goes every week to see her  therapist Dr. Moffat ( Tim Robbins ), as he tries to help her with sessions, where they focus on her feelings, and how she should handle ordinary day life. Problems become more obvious, when Alice decide to stop eating her medicine, even if Dr. Moffat suggest she should. One day, she and Gina are in the studio audience, for the vitamin supplement infomercial with Gabe ( Wes Bentley ). Alice walk right up infront of the camera, and love the attention. She come up with an idea for her own talkshow, on the very same tv station. Studio - head Rich ( James Marsden ) listen to what Alice have planned about her own talkshow. Rich get payed by Alice to fix this up, and he does. Alice becomes a popular tv host, with her crazy ideas for each epsiode. Since she have stoped eating her medecine, her mental illness is taking over. Is this the end for Alice dream of her own version of having an Oprah show ?

To be honest, before i watched Welcome To Me, i had not seen a trailer, or any Review, i simply took a chance to see what this could be. And let me tell you folks, i am quite surprised about this film. This is sort of a black comedy, mixed with drama, with a woman who is diagnosed borderline personality disorder. And i think this is one of the reasons why this film is such a good time, that she says exactly what she is thinking about. For an example, at the meeting at the tv studio, when she presents her talskshow idea, she have to tell everyone that she had orgasm problems, but is ok now. I doubt that is something a normal person would bring up in a meeting. As she is the big winner at the lotto competition, she can do anything she wants, because she have so much money. So what does she do ? Pay 15 million dollars so she can have a 2 hours talk show, with her only talking, and no guests. A brilliant idea, or.....is she really insane ? Actor Kristen Wiig have done some really good films in the past, such as Whip It, MacGruber ( insane tribute to the 80´s, and McGuyver ), Bridesmaids, and many more titles. Here she is the lead role character Alice, who have a lot of insane ideas, and this is why you love her instantly. For those who have never met a person with borderline personality disorder, it might be hard for you to know how such a person is in society. There are many different ways a person can be, but Alice here shows one version, where she take decisions that might not be good. Also, she clearly show signs of this diagnose the way she talks. This might actually be one of the best performances i have seen from actor Kristen Wiig, you can tell she must have worked hard to look and sound like a person in this situation. Director Shira Piven, who is mostly known as an actor in Step Brothers, and director of Fully Loaded, delivers her best film so far. Welcome To Me is a fun look at a woman, who clearly have problems, but turn them around into something good. Reminds me of a film i have not seen for a long time, Little Miss Sunshine, where one of the family members had mental problems, but made the road trip unique. These films are very different, but you can recognize a certain feeling from that film here, but in a completely different way. I would have liked even more dark humour in certain scenes, because Alice is the right character to deliver some surprising moments. But i love her show, very odd ideas and strange subjects mixed into each other. Especially segments like " Smelling Things Before They Happened ", brilliant topic, why did we never see a talkshow like this before ? This film is funny, strange, dramatic, all in one mix. I recommend you see Welcome To Me, if you like dark comedies. Nice to be surprised once in a while.

Rating: DDD