{"id":9710,"date":"2020-08-20T13:10:02","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T17:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=9710"},"modified":"2020-08-20T14:21:38","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T18:21:38","slug":"at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html","title":{"rendered":"At the Movies: Disappointing &#8220;Words on Bathroom Walls&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith and media:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe title=\"Words on Bathroom Walls | Official Trailer  | In Theaters August 21\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4E1-RnpOe8Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Words on Bathroom Walls<\/em><br \/>\nDirected by<\/strong>\u00a0Thor Freudenthal<br \/>\n<strong>Written by<\/strong>\u00a0Nick Navela<br \/>\nBased on Julia Walton\u2019s novel of the same name<br \/>\n<strong>Starring<\/strong> Charlie Plummer (<i>All the Money in the World<\/i>), Andy Garcia (NBC&#8217;s <em>The Kenan Show<\/em>), Taylor Russell (<i>Waves<\/i>), AnnaSophia Robb (PBS&#8217; <em>Mercy Street<\/em>), Beth Grant (Fox\/Hulu&#8217;s <em>The Mindy Project<\/em>), Devon Bostick (Amazon&#8217;s <em>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel<\/em>), Lobo Sebastian (USA&#8217;s <em>Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.<\/em>), Molly Parker (Netflix&#8217;s <em>Lost in Space<\/em>) and Walton Goggins (CBS&#8217; <em>The Unicorn<\/em>).<br \/>\n111 Minutes | Rated PG-13<br \/>\n<strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Friday, August 21<br \/>\n<strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> A coming-of-age story about Adam Petrazelli (Charlie Plummer), a seemingly typical teenage boy navigating through his final year of high school and excited to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional chef. Complications arise when a diagnosis of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Schizophrenia\">schizophrenia<\/a> disrupts all his plans.\u00a0 After enrolling in a Catholic school, he finds himself shifting from his fear of being exposed to accepting the love and support of his family, blossoming romance, and the head priest (Andy Garcia).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mini-Review: <\/strong>When I first learned of this film, I thought it had potential as a serious and thought-provoking exploration of mental illness. After having seen the movie, I&#8217;m sorry to say I&#8217;m disappointed. While getting credit for taking on the important subject of teen schizophrenia, <i>Words on Bathroom Walls<\/i> loses much credibility in its actually storytelling.<\/p>\n<p>First of all, its depiction of the Catholic Church is so stuck in the early sixties that I was, for a time, wondering if it&#8217;s a period piece. It&#8217;s not but its scenes portraying old fashioned dark box confessionals and nuns in black habits (which you rarely see anymore) was like watching some sort of edgy version of the 1966 film <i>The Trouble with Angels<\/i>. It&#8217;s depiction of the Church &#8211; whether out of ignorance or just a disregard for reality &#8211; made me question whether the scenes purporting to reveal Adam&#8217;s schizophrenic experiences bore much actual resemblance to what actual sufferers of the condition go through &#8211; or are just products of the writer&#8217;s imagination or the director&#8217;s pretension.<\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>I also am not too keen on its basic message that acting on self-absorbed impulses is somehow good for anyone&#8217;s mental health &#8211; let alone someone struggling to distinguish between what is real and what isn&#8217;t. And, while removing the societal stigma of mental illness is certainly important, suggesting (as the film does) that it&#8217;s wise for a person suffering like Adam to reveal all his dark places to everyone is not my idea of good advice. Not only can bullies use it against him but even well-meaning friends and family may not be emotionally equipped to deal with it. It seems to me that there&#8217;s a middle ground between staying in the shadows and not communicating with anyone about the problem and exposing your inner-most thoughts and problems to virtually everyone. There is, for instance, the option of talking about things private with people who can actually help.<\/p>\n<div>I think an honest, gritty and compassionate presentation of what a young person dealing with schizophrenia goes through would be a positive thing. But, in the end, this film seems more interested in being edgy than honest, helpful or truly insightful. <strong>Not Recommended.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith and media: Words on Bathroom Walls Directed by\u00a0Thor Freudenthal Written by\u00a0Nick Navela Based on Julia Walton\u2019s novel of the same name Starring Charlie Plummer (All the Money in the World), Andy Garcia (NBC&#8217;s The Kenan Show), Taylor Russell (Waves), AnnaSophia Robb (PBS&#8217; Mercy Street), Beth Grant (Fox\/Hulu&#8217;s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,13,5375,24,1],"tags":[9837,9843,9846,9834,9849,9858,9852,9855,9861,9929,9840,9864,9926],"class_list":["post-9710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-mental-health","category-movies","category-uncategorized","tag-andy-garcia-nbcs-the-kenan-show","tag-annasophia-robb-pbs-mercy-street","tag-beth-grant-fox-hulus-the-mindy-project","tag-charlie-plummer-all-the-money-in-the-world","tag-devon-bostick-amazons-the-marvelous-mrs-maisel","tag-julia-walton","tag-lobo-sebastian-usas-unsolved-the-murders-of-tupac-and-the-notorious-b-i-g","tag-molly-parker-netflixs-lost-in-space","tag-nick-navela","tag-schizophrenia","tag-taylor-russell-waves","tag-thor-freudenthal","tag-words-on-bathroom-walls"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>At the Movies: Disappointing &quot;Words on Bathroom Walls&quot;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At the Movies: Disappointing &quot;Words on Bathroom Walls&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith and media: Words on Bathroom Walls Directed by\u00a0Thor Freudenthal Written by\u00a0Nick Navela Based on Julia Walton\u2019s novel of the same name Starring Charlie Plummer (All the Money in the World), Andy Garcia (NBC&#8217;s The Kenan Show), Taylor Russell (Waves), AnnaSophia Robb (PBS&#8217; Mercy Street), Beth Grant (Fox\/Hulu&#8217;s&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-20T17:10:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-20T18:21:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. 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Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html","name":"At the Movies: Disappointing \"Words on Bathroom Walls\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-08-20T17:10:02+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-20T18:21:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/08\/at-the-movies-disappointing-words-on-bathroom-walls.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"At the Movies: Disappointing &#8220;Words on Bathroom Walls&#8221;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9710"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9728,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9710\/revisions\/9728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}