Kate Stone is career-focused and enjoys her life that way. Her brash attitude keeps relationships at arm’s length, making her an outcast in her own right.
Maddie (Bryn Vale) is an 11-year-old wannabe Juggalo and her Aunt Kate (Taylor Schilling) is a Senior Level VP at a Hedge fund. Neither of them realizes just how much they are out of touch with reality until their worlds collide. When Kate’s brother Joe (Eric Edelstein) summons her to look after their daughter Maddie in the midst of a family emergency, Kate is forced to break away from her single and untethered lifestyle to become a temporary mother, friend, and confidant for a niece she has never known.
Kate’s first assignment is a major failure as she runs late to pick up her niece from ballet class and finds her in the more comfortable environment of the karate class next door. From then on, a myriad of incidents happen that solidify Kate as a person incapable of getting beyond her own selfishness in order to save her niece from a vicious cycle of being bullied. When a major shift in job assignments forces Kate to absentmindedly leave Maddie at a gas station, Maddie is introduced to a whole new world of Juggalos who she affectionately refers to as family. Kate immediately disapproves and the more she tries to show Maddie an example of a normal life, the more she realizes the imperfections in her own character. As the two work to build a better relationship with everyone in their circle of influence, they realize they have more in common than either is willing to admit.
While the film focuses on a group of misfits (Juggalos) who have united with one another to show their strength as a unit, the irony is that the entire cast of characters have their own set of shortcomings that set them apart from the normalcy of the world they live in. These easily identifiable shortcomings make for loads of dysfunction that through trial and error, come together for the good in the long run. The film is a win as it focuses on the impact of personal and professional bullying and exposes the vulnerability in the foundation of every human being and the far-reaching impact of time and attention to societal castaways.
Now playing in select theaters
