The United States of Tara: First Impressions
Thoughts on the Pilot Episode for Diablo Cody’s HBO Show
Jan 20, 2009
The United States of Tara opened last night under much hype, and great anticipation from Diablo Cody, the critically hailed writer of last years Juno, and she does not altogether disappoint (though this is greatly attributed to the more than capable cast, especially the venerable Toni Collette, who takes on exciting roles with the same vigor that Steve Irwin wrestled with crocodiles).
The show follows Tara Gregson (played by Toni Collette) a loving wife and mother of two, who suffers from Dissociative identity Disorder. After years of medicating her condition Tara decides to go off her meds in order to try to live with her disorder, rather than smother it with drugs, and the result arrives in the form of three alter egos or “Alters” as her family cutely refers to them.
Diablo Cody Tries too Hard to Garner Laughs
The first ten minutes, in which we are introduced to ‘T,’ the rampantly sexual teenage Alter ego, are difficult to stomach to say the least. T is a highly exaggerated teenager, who speaks exactly like Juno. And coming from the psyche of Tara, who has children on which she could have modeled T’s identity, this pop culture spewing adolescent alter ego rings like a bell without a clapper.
Even though Collette throws herself into the character with good humor, her acting cannot save the awkwardly false dialogue. It seems at times that in writing for an adult playing a teenager, Cody has forgotten that teenagers try so painfully hard to act like adults. The character of T consequently comes across more like comedian Harry Enfield’s satirically stroppy ‘Kevin the Teenager’ than a real teenage girl.
Unrealistic Dialogue Hinders Performances
The family dynamic is an interesting one, which will no doubt grow deeper as the series goes on. Max, the level-headed supportive husband, is played with lovely subtlety by John Corbett, giving a welcome antithesis to the verbal machine guns that are his daughter and T. There is a nice moment of insight when he and Tara are in bed together, and Max reveals that he is sexually aroused by T, but that he refrains from making love to her out of respect for Tara. However, although there are occasional poignant moments, there are too few true emotional beats for the actors to hit. When all of the dialogue is tuned to make the audience chuckle at all the quirks the emotional connection to the characters suffers.
Second Half Shows More Promise
That being said, the show significantly improves in the second half. This can be largely attributed to the disappearance of T, the glimpse of the real Tara, and also to the arrival of Buck, the second ‘Alter.’ Buck is a beer swilling, gun toting homophobic Vietnam vet, who visibly intimidates Marshall, the son, and instantly puts Max on edge. The disappearance of T improves the dialogue significantly, as it moves into grown up territory and the cuteness wanes.
Collette really shines as Buck, truly embodying him in mind and physicality. Buck is all man. There is no cuteness, no falsity, and no Toni Collette visible whatsoever. The highlight of the episode arrives when Buck is dragged to daughter Kate’s ballet recital. The macho man is visibly enjoying the pas de deux, which delights Marshall as he glimpses a man with feelings under his trucker hat. This is a great moment that reads clearly in the actor’s faces, but is diminished when Marshall leans over and smugly whispers ‘you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ Cody didn’t need to point it out, the audience would have got it from the acting, from the directing, and the editing, and that was the main problem with this first episode. Cody needs to cut the rapid fire dialogue and let her actors breathe and emote.
Despite some difficulties however, The United States of Tara’s first episode shows tremendous promise, and benefits from having a wonderfully competent cast. But most importantly it tackles new subject matter, venturing into uncharted waters, which is impressive in a time when remakes are all the rage.
