Notice to Readers: The Assessment (2024)

There are a few smart moments in The Assessment—unfortunately, they all come in the last ten minutes. The premise is fine, if not particularly original. But most of the film leans hard on tired parenting clichés: ruined dinner parties, tantrums, picky eaters, zero privacy, and furniture assembly instructions from hell. So when the movie finally reaches for emotional depth, it feels jarring and out of place. Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander do respectable work with what they’re given—Olsen especially, whose face I could probably stare at long enough to forget the film’s sillier choices—but even they can’t save a script that doesn’t know what it wants to be.

File Under: Parenting |The Existential Cost of a High Chair | Not Now Darling Mommy's Gone Bye Bye | Couple's Therapy