TV Review: Toni Collette Continues to Shine on ‘United States of Tara’

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CHICAGO – I personally think the show is slightly inferior to its hour-partner “Nurse Jackie,” but Toni Collette does such spectacular work on “United States of Tara” that her performance alone demands you tune in. Like Edie Falco on “NJ,” the incredibly talented Collette takes a challenging role that could have turned into caricature in the hands of a lesser actress and makes it genuine.

HollywoodChicago.com Television Rating: 3.5/5.0
Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

The first season of “United States of Tara” ended with our lead saying, “You know, it could get worse before it gets better.” And yet the second season opens optimistically. It has been three months since her alters surfaced and the Gregson family - Tara (Toni Collette), pop Max (John Corbett), and kids Kate (Brie Larson) and Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) - are burning the clothes she no longer needs. Of course, a neighborhood controversy changes everything.

Keir Gilchrist as Marshall, Brie Larson as Kate, John Corbett as Max, and Toni Collette as Tara
Keir Gilchrist as Marshall, Brie Larson as Kate, John Corbett as Max, and Toni Collette as Tara
Photo credit: Showtime

In case you’re completely unfamiliar with Showtime’s award-winning show, Tara Gregson doesn’t live alone inside her own body. She brings new meaning to “Mom’s just not herself today” as she has Dissociative Identity Disorder. She has three “alters” - “T,” a teenager fond of thongs and drugs, “Buck,” a beer-swilling Vietnam vet prone to violence, and “Alice,” a housewife straight out of a 1950s advertising campaign - and will develop a fourth before the halfway point of this sophomore season.

John Corbett as Max, Brie Larson as Kate, Rosemarie DeWitt as Charmaine, Toni Collette as Tara, and Keir Gilchrist as Marshall
John Corbett as Max, Brie Larson as Kate, Rosemarie DeWitt as Charmaine, Toni Collette as Tara, and Keir Gilchrist as Marshall
Photo credit: Courtesy of Showtime Networks

Tara’s alternate personalities take over in times of great stress, just as her family needs her the most. I still think that Cody and the writers of “United States of Tara” are playing a bit loose with the actuality of DID in that I’m not sure that people with this disorder use them in such a functional or practical way, but it certainly makes for good drama.

The subtext of “United States of Tara” is clear - the modern mother practically needs multiple personalities to deal with the increasingly crazy world, especially when they’re raising teenagers. As for the kids, Marshall has become a bit less self-aware of a character (he too often sounded like a Juno variation at the beginning…the smartest kid in the room)) and starts season two as the most confidently developed character compared to season one as he becomes involved with gay rights at his school. Sadly, Tara’s other child is given a “job” subplot that doesn’t really work.

It’s not that the supporting cast of “United States of Tara” is bad - I personally thought that Rosemarie Dewitt, who plays Tara’s sister, deserved an Oscar nod for “Rachel Getting Married” and John Corbett grounds the piece a bit with his typical charm - but the dilemma of poor Tara along with the self-aware dialogue of Diablo Cody makes for a program that often feels more show-y than I wish it would.

The best moments on “United States of Tara” are not the most extreme examples of its lead’s disorder but the human ones about a family dealing with it and I think it’s great that the first episode of the season allows Collette to really play Tara before the season gets back into her DID. It is a compliment to what Collette has accomplished that I’m much more interested in the “real” Tara than her extreme, scene-stealing “alters”.

Ultimately, even with excellent upcoming guest stars like Viola Davis and Patton Oswalt, the show is still all about Collette. She’s been an underrated actress for years but “United States of Tara” has finally given her the credit she deserves, winning her the Golden Globe and the Emmy for her first season.

As it appears that this season could be largely about getting to the root of the trauma that created Tara’s DID in the first place, it will likely give Collette some nice dramatic work and earn her more awards. She takes what could have been a gimmicky role and does such a good job with it that it makes all other flaws of the program fade away. It’s one of the best performances on television, even if the show it’s on doesn’t always live up to it.

“United States of Tara” returns on Showtime on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 9:30pm CST. It stars Toni Collette, John Corbett, Keir Gilchrist, Brie Larson, and Rosemarie Dewitt. It was created by Diablo Cody and is executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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