Naturally someone in Hollywood had to make use of the term “Narcissist,” that is making people’s careers rise up amongst the psychology profession. This is nothing more than an Instagram/Tik Tok video minus the subtitles. It is a “Tell Don’t Show,” because God forbid that someone would have to use their head. While they do get the narcissism correct, I wonder how many young women actually got something from watching this show? I specialize in working with survivors, so yes, I got it. All you are getting is Marissa Tomei’s character talk through the entire movie. Well, yell is more like it. Who talks like this?

I don’t recommend seeing this film, as you won’t learn anything from it. Wouldn’t this be the point? To help young women get a sense of the type of men out there they might be dating? There is nothing funny about it, to me as a psychology professional, and it is extremely predictable.

If I were making a movie about narcissism, I would be more subtle, not explain it all the way through the entire movie – because who understands a lecture? Certainly not college kids these days, they can just go to some AI resource like Chat GPT. This is our future. If the movie character would have allowed her daughter to live her life (and not be a helicopter mother), the daughter would have figured it out at some point on her own. But, so many sensitive parents these days, who want to be a back seat driver, don’t allow their kids to grow up and they end up living in their basement. Parents can’t let their kids figure it out for themselves and so they are emotionally and psychologically, not to mention financially dependent on their parents so they become a vegetable. Comatose on life.

My boyfriend and I turned this off within about five minutes. Because I work with the survivor population, I forced myself to go back and have something to argue about. To be able to explain to my clients that this isn’t really teaching them anything. They and you are better off watching my workshop on Udemy or buying my ebook or view my YouTube videos on the topic of surviving the narcissist. Use the tools I have created as an adjunct to working with a therapist who specializes in this topic. Someone who helps to transform your circumstances as you figure it out from supportive guidance, validation, kindness, empathy and homework assignments.

Once we face the truth of our circumstances, take responsibility for how we got here and aim to change the narrative we have learned, then we will be able to have a healthy and successful future. We will become the person we have always dreamed we could be. This is so much more rewarding then someone telling you how to live your life.