Julianne Moore has already wrapped up the Oscar…
film review
THE DEBUT
Running time: 105 minutes. Rated R (temporary drug use, some inappropriate references, and language). In theaters Dec. 11.
From the very first minute, it’s sure Jesse Eisenberg’s movie “The Debut” goes to be fully bonkers.
Mona, a meek but intense New Jersey housewife performed by Julianne Moore like she’s just ripped off a straitjacket, auditions for a supporting position in a musical at her local group theater.
Sounds regular enough? Well, she loses the half to Bernadette Peters.
Exactly what variety of non-professional theater company is this? Yes, Peters performs Serena Cherry, a bigshot newbie, but she sure sings like she’s gained two Tonys.
That surreal cameo from Broadway royalty immediately establishes the No. 1 rule of Eisenberg’s third function as a author and director, which is displaying at the Toronto International Film Festival: There are no guidelines and there may be even less actuality.
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Sometimes dazzling, sometimes puzzling, always ridiculous, “The Debut” is a song-and-dance fever dream that could possibly be the wacko love baby of “Waiting for Guffman” and “Black Swan.” There’s inside-baseball show people humor and a psychological breakdown. It’s capital-W Weird.
Julianne Moore stars in “The Debut.” Courtesy of TIFF
More than something, the film is an excuse for Moore, who Eisenberg wrote the position for, to go loco. The risk-taking actress excels at that: “May December,” “Savage Grace,” “Boogie Nights,” heck, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle.” But you’ve never seen her be as full-bore demented as she is right here. I used to be frankly fearful for her sanity. The outcome of Moore’s virtually pathological dedication to this pissed off suburbanite at a crossroads is some of her best work in a long time.
Fortunately (or maybe not) for Mona, Peters’ Serena takes a job in New York City and drops out of the show. Mona, it seems, was the only other individual to audition. So, she is requested to play Miss Danielle, an house superintendent with a identify like a second grade instructor’s.
The fearsome director of the show called “Nosy Neighbors” — Eisenberg wrote all the songs, which border on parody — is Jerry, a jackass perfectionist performed by Paul Giamatti. If Moore’s speciality is loons, Giamatti’s is jerks.
Julianne Moore attends the premiere of “The Debut” during the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. ZUMAPRESS.com
Mona’s castmates — Stef (Halle Bailey from “Little Mermaid”), Zachary (Colton Ryan) and Trish (Tony Award winner Bonnie Milligan) — revere haughty and pretentious Jerry like a pharaoh, but warn her that he’s “going to drag you through the s–t and the mud.”
Indeed, Jerry’s tactic with mousy Mona is to crush her in order to squeeze out a better efficiency. With totalitarian cruelty, he obsesses over how she delivers a little line: “The rent’s due.”
And in the film’s most memorable scene, a one-on-one after-hours rehearsal that spins out of control, he pushes her and pushes her until she snaps. To our utter delight. That’s when Jerry — and Mona — understand she’s bought it.
“The Debut,” starring Moore and Paul Giamatti, is the third function for Jesse Eisenberg. Getty Images
Inspired, Mona devotes herself completely to Miss Danielle, like a New Jersey Daniel Day Lewis, shoving apart her husband and son who couldn’t care less what she does outdoors the home.
By now, Eisenberg’s movie is out of its thoughts. Mona dyes her hair black and provides herself a Liza Minnelli pixie cut. Preferring her artsy new pastime to the monotony of motherhood, she discovers herself at the theater, just as Zac Efron did in “High School Musical,” besides Mona popping out of her shell doesn’t transfer us or make us really feel something at all. This is an outlandish film that’s more enjoyable than it’s deep.
Considering this is Eisenberg’s followup to the heartbreaking “A Real Pain,” that’s a slight bummer. Visually this is miles forward of his last film, though. Heightened “Debut” is a very, very slick manufacturing.
The complete cause to see it, though, is the spectacular Moore, who’s so batty as Mona you possibly can’t look away, lest you miss the slightest freaky eyelid twitch.
Her fed-up homemaker character is likely to be new to the highs and lows of the actor’s life, but Moore virtually actually has a second Oscar in her future.
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