Title: Bitch
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Marianna Palka
Starring: Marianna Palka, Jason Ritter, Jaime King
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

What It Is: Jill (Palka) is a very hardworking mother of four children with her husband Bill (Ritter) who literally does nothing to help. This has driven Jill pretty much to her breaking point. Meanwhile, Bill is doing whoever and whatever he wants. Just so long as he brings home the bacon Jill is content to stay home, but she’s a bit restless and wants to escape to an art retreat. When Bill says it’s out of the cards, coupled with a particularly bad day Jill snaps and begins to exhibit the behavior of a feral dog.

What We Think: Much like Palka’s last directorial effort Good Dick there’s a palpable chemistry between she and Ritter even if it’s only for a bit in this one. Ritter is a bundle of wrecked nerves and swear words. His performance is really good and a great backbone for this film to stand on. I was not a huge fan of the script in general. Often it fell onto tired storytelling. There is however JUST enough quirk to keep the attention of the audience.

Our Grade: C+, Flawed but decent. I do want to speak on Palka as a director who does a good job of placing her stamp on this. The quirk infused by the screenplay, which was also written by Palka really gives this that independent sense it needs. Jason Ritter continues to make interesting decisions in the projects he takes. I can recommend this be cautiously, and that’s solely because the film’s premise is so weird. Check out Palka in the wonderful Netflix show GLOW for another good example of Marianna Palka at work. And you know it’s a really good show too.