A maladjusted soon-to-be-middle-schooler and her codependent acupuncturist mother navigate summer break and a string of bad relationships in Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Annie Baker’s studious but tedious drama Janet Planet. Janet and Lacy’s intertwined existence rests at the intersection of intimacy and monotony, as the duo swing between piano lessons, summer camp, local theater, picnics, and barn dances, making for a drily comic but often snooze-inducing portrait of the unique balance that exists between mother and daughter. There are worthwhile pockets and Julianne Nicholson flashes raw tenderness as the freewheeling and woe-begotten Janet but Baker’s film – thatched onto a meager script – is ultimately too impressionistic, rambling, and unfocused to leave much of an impression. (C)
