To the Bone

Movie poster.

To the Bone is a drama about a young woman battling with anorexia nervosa. It was released in 2017.

Personal

I watched it on Netflix on 2017-09-14, it was lame.

Starring

• Lily Collins as Ellen (Eli)
• Keanu Reeves as Dr. William Beckham
• Carrie Preston as Susan, Ellen's stepmother
• Lili Taylor as Judy, Ellen's mother
• Alex Sharp as Luke
• Liana Liberato as Kelly, Ellen's half-sister
• Brooke Smith as Olive, Judy's girlfriend
• Leslie Bibb as Megan
• Kathryn Prescott as Anna
• Ciara Quinn Bravo as Tracy
• Maya Eshet as Pearl
• Lindsay McDowell as Kendra
• Marietta Sirleaf as Lobo
• Joanna Sanchez as Rosa
• Alanna Ubach as Karen

Review

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The effects that made Lily Collins's body look so emaciated were very believable.

Bad

• Ellen is a dull character. She's mopey, not because she has any serious problems, but because she has a bad relationship with her parents, and a fan of her killed herself. Big deal.
• Despite being billed as a radical thinker, Dr. Beckham is neither radical nor very involved with the life of his patients.
• There isn't a strong bond between Ellen and her half-sister, so her concern lack's depth.
• There isn't really very much chemistry between Luke and Ellen. Luke is just creepy and over-bearing, and I can't imagine a half-way house being so blasé about their patients developing romantic relationships.
• What I assume were meant to be major points in the movie lack power or are meaningless. Ellen changing her name to Eli, Megan's miscarriage, and Ellen's mother saying she accepts Ellen's death, all don't change anything in her life, but the hallucination in the desert, causes the big change, and it doesn't make any sense. Also, the movie doesn't leave enough time to explain it or tie up the loose ends.

Ugly

• While it has some interesting moments, overall, the movie is uninspired.

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