High schoolers in movies often have a whole host of problems they have to face down before the credits roll: antagonistic teachers, evasive members of the opposite sex, and parents who just don’t understand. Words on Bathroom Walls ups the ante a bit by adding debilitating mental illness to the mix.
The latest feature from director Thor Freudenthal features Charlie Plummer as Adam, a high school senior whose aspirations of attending culinary school are complicated after his school expels him following his first schizophrenic episode. At first, it can seem as though Words on Bathroom Walls is overloading itself as Adam is tasked to deal with his mental illness, a new high school, bad grades and his mom’s boyfriend all at once.
Surprisingly, the film juggles all of this relatively well, even after adding a potential love interest in the form of Maya (breakout star Taylor Russell). On more than one occasion, the movie dips a little too deep into the world of young adult tropes – no surprise given that the film’s source material is a popular YA novel written by Julia Walton – but the honesty with which it treats Adam’s illness manages to keep things consistently engaging. Still, the missteps are there – perhaps most glaringly in the fact that the movies concludes with a “Class of 2020” graduation ceremony, a phenomenon viewers present and future will recognize as a hilarious incongruity.
Molly Parker‘s performance as Adam’s mom is worth highlighting, as is Walton Goggins in an uncharacteristically understated mood as her boyfriend. If there is one major misstep in the movie’s many plotlines, it is in the religious one: Adam is forced to transfer to a Catholic school where he comes in contact with the Andy García-played Father Patrick. Patrick is a painfully “cool” priest, patiently listening to Adam’s many anti-religious barbs. That their relationship concludes with a mutual prayer is awkward to say the least and lends the film’s conclusion some uselessly pious overtones.
I am far from an expert on schizophrenia, but the fact that Adam’s illness manifested itself in consistent characters (a playboy, bodyguard, and flower child) did feel more than a little contrived. Thankfully, Words on Bathroom Walls ultimately makes up for this by devoting more than a few scenes to the genuine sacrifices that people who suffer from mental illnesses have to make in order to keep their ailments under control. Even if the nuts and bolts of schizophrenia are missing, the effects it has on the human spirit are very much here.
None of this is to say that Words on Bathroom Walls is a wholly original film – its self-aware dialogue and contrived moments of romance do quite a bit to dispel any notion of novelty here – but its treatment of its core issue is plenty laudable. Add to that some competent direction and engaging performances, and you’ve got yourself a solid coming-of-age story.
