‘May December’: Charles Melton Gives the Breakout Performance of the Year

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There are times when you sit down to watch a movie and, almost immediately, you know you’re in. In the case of May December, that happened after about five minutes, when Julianne Moore opens a refrigerator, a dramatic music cue plays, director Todd Haynes zooms in on her face, and Moore says with utmost seriousness, bordering on terror, “I don’t think we have enough hot dogs.”

This moment spoke to me because I, too, often fear that we don’t have enough hot dogs. (That’s not a joke.) But it also set up what would be the film’s magic trick. It’s a tense drama about what’s to be gained and lost by dredging up secrets from the past, and also a darkly comedic thriller. It is campy without being ridiculous, yet almost shocking in its willingness to be goofy. And it is somehow both soapy and deadpan—played so straight and, sometimes even, listlessly, that the major story beats end up crashing through the screen like a wrecking ball.

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