10 Smart Movies With Incredibly Dumb Twists
3. Tully Is Imaginary - Tully
Jason Reitman's drama Tully is, for most of its runtime, a deeply compassionate and emotionally intelligent tribute to motherhood, with Charlize Theron delivering a magnificent performance as put-upon mother Marlo.
Mackenzie Davis is also terrific as her peppy young nanny Tully, though Reitman sadly can't resist the urge to upend this achingly human drama with a needlessly daft final twist.
In the end, Marlo and Tully head off for an impromptu night on the town, which ends with Marlo crashing her car into a river.
Marlo wakes up at the hospital and learns that - gasp! - Tully was simply a figment of her sleep-deprived imagination, a compartmentalised fabrication to help her deal with her hectic life.
Though the film serves as a memorable examination of postpartum depression, making a shocking rug-pull out of Marlo's ailing mental health feels cheap if not outright manipulative.
As a character study and a performance piece, Tully was good enough that it didn't need to resort to goofy last-minute parlour tricks.