Out of My Mind (2024) Review: Newcomer Phoebe-Rae Taylor Impresses in This Poignant Coming-of-Age Drama
There are times you might uncover a gem when you least expect it and this certainly applies to Out of My Mind, a direct-to-Disney+ movie based on Sharon M. Draper’s 2010 award-winning novel of the same name. First premiered in the Family Matinee section at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in January, the movie stars newcomer Phoebe-Rae Taylor as 12-year-old Melody Brooks. She has cerebral palsy and to preserve the authenticity of the character, Taylor has the same disorders in real life.
When the movie opens, we learn that Melody can’t speak and all we hear is her inner voice. Except she doesn’t sound like her age since she imagines herself sounding like Jennifer Aniston because of her love for Friends. She is confined to a wheelchair and relies on a non-verbal communication board to convey what she wants to say by pointing at the alphabet or a certain picture. Her parents — dad Chuck (Luke Kirby) and mum Diane (Rosemarie DeWitt) — have been very supportive and taking good care of her. She also has a cute little sister named Penny (Emily Mitchell).
Everything seems fine but Melody’s parents, particularly her mum can be overprotective of her. She may have cerebral palsy but she wants to live like normal people and doesn’t want to be stuck in special classes. She wants more and her opportunity arrives when Dr Katherine Post (Courtney Taylor) introduces her parents to a program that allows her to participate in a regular school class. By doing so, she can join the rest of the sixth graders and above all, get out of her bubble. Melody manages to join at last, albeit with a few hesitations from her mum. Katherine would be by Melody’s side at all times during Mr Dimming’s (Michael Chernus) class session.
If you are familiar with this kind of story, you know where will this be heading: Mr Dimming doesn’t seem to feel comfortable having Melody in his class and so do the rest of the students. Some of them even make fun of Melody. But Melody remains persistent no matter how others look at her or treat her differently. Familiar themes of perseverance and overcoming the challenges of living with disabilities are efficiently told without resorting to histrionics, particularly if it falls under the hands of a lesser director.
Thankfully, Amber Sealey, the actress-turned-director whose previous credits include How to Cheat and the Elijah Wood-starred No Man of God, delivers an overall earnest approach in her above-average direction while bringing out the best in all her stars, notably Phoebe-Rae Taylor’s scene-stealing lead role as Melody Brooks. It’s hard not to get invested in her joy and plight while some of her non-verbal performances are successfully conveyed through expressive acting and match well with the voice of Jennifer Aniston serving as Melody’s inner thoughts.
The story may have been formulaic but Sealey, coupled with Daniel Stiepleman’s thoughtful adapted screenplay did a good job rooting for Melody’s journey from start to the end. It also helps that Taylor is backed by equally solid supporting roles from Luke Kirby and Rosemarie DeWitt as her parents to Courtney Taylor as the determined Dr Katherine Post who strongly believes that students with disabilities deserve the same fair education as the normal kids in the class.
The movie also depicts an awkward but beautiful friendship between Melody and her classmate Rose Spencer (a wonderful Maria Nash). Out of My Mind deserves equal mention for capturing the 2000s era with well-selected needle drops covering The Cranberries’ “Dreams” to Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” and Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair”.
Out of My Mind is currently streaming on Disney+.
