MY FRIEND WAS TELLING ME HOW stunned he was when he found out what his mother had done. Through their entire lives, his parents lived frugally; he thought it was out of necessity. It turned out that was not totally correct. His mother handled all the finances, from paying bills to shopping for food. My friend told me his father was given strict instructions on how much he could spend on any replacement clothing or food when he went shopping. Some of the stories my friend would tell me about his parents seemed extreme to me. For example, his mother would continue to wear a sweater or blouse even after it was discolored from age or frayed to the point where a small hole would appear. She never went clothes shopping unless there was no way she could continue to wear an article of clothing, after all the mending she tried to do to it. The thing that surprised me was the fact, according to my friend, his father had no idea how much money he and his wife really had saved. Throughout their entire marriage, the father never once wrote a check. I found this to be the weirdest thing out of all the things my friend told me about his parents.      WHEN I THINK ABOUT OLDER GENERATIONS, I remember how the household was divided between “male” and “female” chores. It was expected the women would clean and cook while the men shoveled snow and mowed the grass. To me, it seemed like 2 separate worlds co-existing together instead of 2 people working in unison to create one world. I never understood why changing a diaper was the mother’s job or washing the car was the husband’s job. As I witnessed the growth of later generations, I noticed a refreshing change in the way married/partnered couples handled the running of their households. Males were now changing diapers or cooking while their significant other would take on the repair of a household item. There is a couple I know who have a near perfect union in the way they managed to remove “male” and “female” labels to the functions of running their home. It would not be unusual for either of them to cook dinner, clean, pay bills or grocery shop. Whoever has available time, takes on the duty and it works beautifully for them. The only area where they are not equal is with their finances. The husband does all the investing of their funds, setting them up for their retirement years. I believe this is an error in judgment because if the husband were to die first, his wife would have no idea how to manage the finances he set up for them. Imagine what kind of trauma his wife would experience. Though the circumstances are a bit different in this crime drama, one can still see the affect it has on a spouse when they are left out of the loop.      FIRST, SHE WAS HANDED A NEWBORN baby, then she was forced to go on the run; all due to her husband’s actions. All Jean, played by Rachel Brosnahan (Patriots Day, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-TV), wanted was to get answers from her husband. With Marsha Stephanie Blake (See You Yesterday, The Laundromat) as Teri, Arinze Kene (The Pass, Been so Long) as Cal, Frankie Faison (Do the Right Thing, White Chicks) as Art and Marceline Hugot (Working Girl, The Messenger) as Evelyn; the strength of this film was solely placed on Rachel’s performance. I thought she did an excellent job in the role. Set in the 1970s, I enjoyed the sets and costumes in this picture; however, I found the script to be lacking. The first half of the film was slow to me. It was not until the halfway point where things started to pick up and I took more of an interest in Jean’s plight. Also, I liked seeing her growth in the story. Overall, it just seemed as if the writers and director did not talk much to each other when they were creating this disjointed movie.  

2 ½ stars