The Debut

Jesse Eisenberg directs Academy Award winner Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti in a dark comedy about a bored suburban housewife who finds purpose acting in community theatre.

Mona Friedman (Julianne Moore) feels stuck in her tedious suburban housewife life. When a role with a community theatre company arises, she jumps at the chance to try out. To her surprise, she lands a spot in the production.

Hard-headed theatre director Jerry (Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers) sees a spark in Mona and pushes her to test the limits of what she can bring to the role. Which she does, obsessing over nailing her first performance.

Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg mines rich, dark comedy from the self-seriousness of  community theatre. Brilliantly riffing on the Constantin Stanislavski chestnut that “there are no small parts, only small actors,” The Debut examines just what that maxim looks like when taken to the extreme.

Screening at Luna Leederville, Luna on SX, and Windsor Cinema from December 26.