Title: Scrap
MPA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Vivian Kerr
Starring: Vivian Kerr, Anthony Rapp, Lana Parrilla
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
What It Is: Beth (Kerr) is, for lack of a better term, down on her luck. She’s essentially living in her car while her brother looks after her daughter. But she hasn’t been truthful with him or his wife, Stacy (Parrilla).
They don’t know she’s homeless. They don’t know she lost her job. They don’t know she’s been talking to her daughter’s estranged father. There’s a lot they don’t know. And there’s a lot Beth is dealing with.
Maybe she’ll figure it out.
What We Think: Let me start with this—Vivian Kerr is GREAT here. You can feel her running the gauntlet of emotions as she tries to deal with everything around her constantly going wrong. As she navigates the cavalcade of crap coming her way, Kerr’s obvious charisma shines through. Her writing is the biggest star here—everything everyone says and does feels real and comes off authentically. Kerr and Rapp have excellent chemistry as brother and sister, making their dynamic one of the film’s highlights.
For the most part, this entire thing works. However, Beth loses me a bit when she makes some super obvious bad decisions. That said, there are real consequences for those choices, so as an audience, we’re not taken out of the story by unrealistic outcomes.
Our Grade: B-, Color me surprised—this is a film that landed on my desk, and I couldn’t be happier that it did! It’s a compelling character study of someone not so different from you or me. Like Beth, we’re all just one layoff away from putting on deodorant in the front seat of our illegally parked car. Like Kerr’s Beth, we, too, might have to rely on family to ensure our financial and physical security.
A special shoutout goes to Lana Parrilla, who is absolutely fantastic as Stacy—a confident woman whose only weakness is one Beth takes for granted. A superwoman whose kryptonite is dangled in front of her daily.
Check this one out! And if you’re reading this, Vivian—we should talk!
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