Family

An uptight person being mellowed by interaction with a child is a cinematic cliché, but filmmaker Laura Steinel tries to make up for the familiarity by adopting a quirkily deadpan style. Taylor Schilling stars as Kate, whose ultra-ambitious work-centered life makes her a pariah among her office colleagues and a stranger to her family. When her brother asks her to take care of his 11-year-old daughter, Maddie (Bryn Vale), for a night, her initial reaction is to say no, but he guilt trips her into agreeing. Of course, the task stretches to a week, and is complicated by the fact that Maddie is a total misfit, bullied at school, who has secretly jettisoned ballet lessons to learn karate at the local dojo. Maddie finds a rare friend in a goofy clerk at a convenience store who identifies himself as one of the Juggalos, fans of the Insane Clown Posse who paint their faces circus-style to attend the band’s raucous concerts, and Maddie joins the group herself. Sandwiched into this ostentatiously wacky tale are plot threads concerning Kate’s rivals at work and her running battle with Maddie’s obtrusive neighbor (Kate McKinnon). Steinel’s emphasis on her characters’ eccentric ways cannot disguise the very old-fashioned plot, and the affected style ultimately becomes more irritating than engaging. Optional. (F. Swietek)