NOTE: Kristen Wiig's Welcome to Me is available for order now.
Many an SNL alum has walked away with hopes of turning their work on the small screen into big screen careers, but few have done it quite as well as Kristen Wiig in such a short amount of time. Bridesmaids was sort of like her big coming out party, but after refusing a sequel she's embarked on a number of smaller projects that allow her to flex rarely-used dramatic muscles. The Skeleton Twins is an excellent example of what she can do, while others like Hateship Loveship and Girl Most Likely lacked the inventive spark we're used to from her. Rest assured that is not an issue with the Shira Piven's hilariously wacky and touching Welcome to Me, a showcase for what Wiig can do when put front and center.
Unlike some of the larger films she's been a part of recently, Wiig essentially carries Welcome to Me all by herself. That's not to say the supporting cast, which consists of James Marsden, Joan Cusack, Alan Tudyk, Linda Cardellini, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tim Robbins, are ineffectual it's just a statement on how good Wiig is. She plays Alice Klieg, a lonely recluse who watches old episodes of Oprah on VHS, stays up late watching shows on parakeets, and basically watching too much TV in general. In fact, her television hasn't been off in 11 years. Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, Alice attends therapy sessions with Dr. Moffat (Tim Robbins), although she's recently decided to quit her meds in favor of a string cheese treatment. She has a best friend in Gina (Cardellini) but little else to her name, it seems. That all changes drastically when she hits the lotto and instantly becomes a mega-millionaire. 
Rather than freaking out, Alice calmly makes the decision to reinvent herself as a talk show host, relying on Oprah's sage advice about self-confidence in the pursuit of one's dreams. Falling in with a low-rent television network barely above the UHF level, she agrees to pay them $15M to produce her own show, "Welcome to Me", so that she can talk all about herself. And what a show it turns out to be. The segments are an oddball assortment of reenacted events from Alice's cracked past, like "Smelling Things Before They Happen" and "Someone Has Been Tampering With My Makeup Bag". Or they delve into even darker, crueler territory such as the entire week Alice spends neutering dogs live on air. All this after she enters the show riding a mechanical swan, of course. The depths of Alice's narcissism (she often reads from formal prepared statements) know no bounds, and it never ceases to be funny, especially when the people around her (mostly the network employees) are left stupefied by it. The reactions on their faces looked exactly like mine watching Alice's unpredictable exploits; her moments of serenity that flip like a switch to utter insanity. There were times when I found myself yelling at the screen over her antics. A health nut (sorta), Alice's nutritional cooking segments end with long stretches where she simply sits down and eats on camera...in total silence, to stunned audiences.
Of course, Alice's show gains a following, but popularity has the drastic effect of increasing her self-delusion. But it also reveals the depth of her pain and loneliness, her extreme need for acceptance. She falls in love with practically every man who shows her any attention, from a sheepish infomercial host (Wes Bentley) to a young student (Thomas Mann) who adores the show. Wiig is phenomenal here, showing Alice's growing confidence which coincides with the depth of her mental illness. We both pity her and root for her, but never once do we come to dislike Alice for some of the questionable choices she makes. The film loses some of its edge in an attempt to make sure Alice comes away smelling like a rose, but that is a small problem when she's such an original comic creation already. It's also good to see Wiig carrying the full comedic weight without having to share it with a male co-star. This is Wiig at her absolute best, and we can only hope she gets more chances like this to show what she can do.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
