Showing Up

Grade: C

Showing Up takes a trio of talented actors who were Oscar nominated this past year (Michelle Williams, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch), and doesn’t have a clue what to do with them, other than put them in a bland, low-key pointless underdeveloped slog. They had a great year and deserve an easy project, but this? It’s not even a walk in the park. It’s sitting down at a modest pond to feed the ducks. The plot centers around various forms of art, and this movie feels like one of those pieces of abstract art we see examples of throughout.

Showing Up toys with assorted potential directions it could take us, but never does. Michelle Williams plays Lizzy. She has a “real job,” but sculpting is her passion, and she’s getting ready for a show. That’s what they call it when they have a big display of their work, and people come over to see it, with wine and cheese served. Hong Chau plays Jo, her landlord, who is also an aspiring artist. Lizzy hasn’t been able to shower for a week or more, due to a problem with the hot water in the apartment. Jo keeps telling her “I’m on it.”

Apparently showering at her brother’s or father’s house (two locations we see her visit) is out of the question. Judd Hirsch, who played Williams’s uncle-in-law in The Fabelmans, appears here as her dad. John Magaro (Carol, The Big Short) plays her brother. In one scene, he is behind his house digging a massive hole, with absolutely no explanation we ever find out about. Then he is supposed to get a ride with their mother to Lizzie’s show, but has gone missing – only to arrive at the show on foot, and everything’s all good (after some sitcommy dialogue about not eating too much cheese). We don’t know if he has a drug problem, some sort of mental issue, or none of the above.

One of the biggest conflicts, if you can call it that, is the caretaking of an injured pigeon. Jo found it in the backyard of the building. It had flown into Lizzie’s apartment in the middle of the night and got mauled by her cat – but, for some reason, Lizzie never tells anybody that piece of information. It’s strange that she keeps it to herself the whole time, but she helps with babysitting it, because she feels responsible.

Family drama, or the balance of a real job with the thing you want to do full-time are interesting ideas to explore, but there’s no follow through in any department. Showing Up is a film that never gets off the ground, and sputters along in a dull, lifeless way – with plot details that feel unfinished. You could say it doesn’t live up to its title.

Grade: C