A 2020 Coming of Age romance drama film directed by Thor Freudenthal, best known for directing the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid film, and based on the novel of the same name by Julia Walton. It stars Charlie Plummer, Taylor Russell, Andy García, AnnaSophia Robb, Devon Bostick, Beth Grant, Molly Parker, and Walton Goggins.
High school senior and aspiring cook Adam Petrazelli (Plummer) experiences a psychotic break in the middle of a chemistry class, resulting in him accidentally burning a classmate's arm with chemicals. He is diagnosed with schizophrenia shortly after, with his primary hallucinations consisting of 3 different individuals: Granola Girl Rebecca (Robb), stereotypical "horn-dog best friend" Joaquin (Bostick), and the protective yet volatile Bodyguard (played by Lobo Sebastian). Though Adam also begins hearing a far more sinister and hostile voice coming from the darkest corners of the room.
Because of the incident, Adam is placed on various antipsychotic medications, each with their own equally inconvenient set of side effects, and transferred to St. Agatha's Catholic School. While at the school, he meets the feisty valedictorian Maya Arnez (Russell) as well as the snarky but incredibly empathetic priest Father Patrick (Garcia). Soon Adam is forced to balance a hundred things at once: his growing romantic connection with Maya, the disconnect between him and his aloof stepfather Paul (Goggins), the ways his medication affects his ability to cook, and of course his insecurities around his condition and what would happen if anyone else found out.
The movie received positive reviews for its careful and sympathetic approach to its sensitive subject matter and for being an incredibly rare "peaceful" depiction of schizophrenia, one of the most stigmatized and negatively stereotyped mental illnesses in all of fiction. Oh, and Rodrick Heffley is in it, too.
This film contains examples of:
- Artistic License – Medicine: Near the end of the film, Adam is placed on suicide watch at a mental hospital after attempting suicide. While the mother is realistically unable to bring toothpicks in for a dish she's brought for him, the room Adam is in still has clearly exposed electrical sockets and even an easily breakable ceramic lamp, none of which would be located in the room of someone on suicide watch.
- Bathroom Stall Graffiti: What the title references of course, as Adam experiences a particularly bad episode upon reading some nasty comments scrawled on the walls of his school bathroom, which then proceed to take over everything within his line of sight.
- Big "NO!": Adam says this after The Bodyguard attempts to take a swing at Maya's head with his baseball bat. The end result is...embarrassing.
- Darkest Hour: Towards the end of the movie, Adam has his worst psychotic episode yet in the middle of his school prom. He's injured Sister Catherine, humiliated himself in front of his classmates, been restrained to a bed within a mental institute, and finally tells Maya about his condition in the worst way possible, shrieking at her to get away for her own safety. Thankfully, he gets better.
- Deadpan Snarker: Adam, Maya, and even Father Patrick:Adam: Do people really just talk about, you know, how much they jerk off and stuff?Father Patrick: (beat) Well, everybody in this school is between the ages of 13 and 18. So what do you think?
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Maya puts up a particularly abrasive front when she first meets Adam, and she very nearly cuts all ties with him when he discovers that she and her family are struggling financially. Upon spending more time tutoring him and getting to know him, however, she begins to warm up to him, and the two eventually get romantically involved.
- Granola Girl: Rebecca is a stereotypical hippie who goes on about auras and zodiac signs. She's so perky and harmless, however, that even Adam says he doesn't mind her at all.
- Hearing Voices: Mostly averted. Undoubtedly for cinematic reasons, almost all of Adam's hallucinations are visual rather than audial (as is most typical of schizophrenia) save the unseen voice that usually threatens him from the shadows of the room or an open door leading to a pitch-black room.
- Insane Equals Violent: Averted with a vengeance. As part of its more realistic depiction of life with schizophrenia, despite the plot starting because Adam accidentally injures another student, Adam's condition and subsequent reactions are shown to be out of fear and self-defense rather than due to him giving in to any violent delusions.
- Knight of Cerebus: Any appearance of the sinister voice in Adam's head takes the film into much darker territory considering it's trying to convince him to kill himself.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Adam's "visitors": Rebecca is nice, The Bodyguard is mean, and Joaquin is in-between.
- No Medication for Me: Adam ditches his medication after it affects his ability to taste. It only goes well for so long.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Adam is the composed and reserved blue to Maya's feisty and extroverted red.
- Sanity Slippage: In the hopes of taking Maya to the prom, Charlie takes far more medication than what is safely required and has his worst psychotic episode yet, culminating in him shoving Sister Catherine to the ground, collapsing off the catwalk, and getting restrained and housed inside a mental institute.
- Token Evil Teammate: While all of Adam's visitors provide a range of inconveniences in his life, primarily just being incredibly distracting, the voice in the shadows is very openly hostile toward him, tearing him down verbally and eventually encouraging suicide.
- The Unseen: We never once see the therapist whom Adam is speaking with.
