The Debut

Mona Friedman (Academy Award winner Julianne Moore) feels stuck in her tedious suburban housewife life. When a role with a community theatre company arises, she jumps at the chance to try out. To her surprise, she lands a spot in the production. Hard-headed theatre director Jerry (Paul Giamatti) sees a spark in Mona and pushes her to test the limits of what she can bring to the role. Which she does, obsessing over nailing her first performance.

Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg mines rich, dark comedy from the self-seriousness of community theatre, with every line change and beat scrutinized despite the relatively low stakes for all involved, including the audience.