Senior year can be rough. Honestly, high school as a whole can be rough. We all have different experiences, though. For some kids, high school is one long bullying experience. For others, it is the place in life where they peak and have party mode on pause. They just manage to stay suspended in that moment in life. My high school experience was nothing special. I did a few bands and did theater. Technically speaking, I guess I haven’t really grown all that much. I was a nerd then and with age, I’ve only come to be a bigger nerd.

The first half of my senior year was some of the more relaxing semesters I’d ever taken. I spend my freshman to junior years constantly striving to do honors and the hardest classes possible. By the time, I arrived at my senior year. I honestly just wanted to relax. So it came to be, that was until January. I knew that were evils in the world. I knew that eventually one of them may even come to my door step. When you’re a high school senior, you never think such things will ever knock on your door. Shortly after returning back from winter break, a friend of mine had killed himself. It was an emotion that abruptly stopped me dead in my tracks and completely redirected my life. That one moment is the reason that you are right here, right now reading this review. It is the reason this podcast exists.

The suicide of a friend, or family member, changes you forever. Although the movie, Words on Bathroom Walls, isn’t dealing with the suicide of a friend. It does showcase the struggle of schizophrenia for high school senior, Adam (Charlie Plummer). Shortly after he receives his diagnosis, he attempts to keep it a secret until he meets the one person who can challenge it - someone to love him in spite of his condition.

I’ll be honest I was expecting this to me a love story. That’s what a large part of the marketing for this film fixated on; Plummer & romantic lead, Taylor Russell. While this film does feature a slowburn subplot with Russell and Plummer eventually falling in love - Words is everything but your average romantic teen drama. It’s about the horrors that plague a young man experiencing audible hallucinations taunting him to suicide. It’s about the vision that he sees as a side effect of Schizophrenia and the struggle of that which lies in between for Plummer. Words is a brilliant, and brutally honest, tale of mental health’s darker side. The side that we never seem to want to address. The climax of the film revolves around the fact that this kid, in spite of his condition, is not merely his disease. That’s something that a lot of people with Schizophrneia face. Due to its’ honesty, Words is not just a great film - it is an important film to say the least.

Plummer, at its core, facing such struggles turns in a world class performance. He is an actor on the rise. Even though, Words may come across to some as a young adult movie, in the vein of Twilight or the Hunger Games, Plummer no less deserves your attention for this performance. Some of its’ more forced moments come with the romantic spin the movie tries to give itself. As if everyone suffering from a mental illness is bound for happier ever after. The realism of the struggle and disease can get a little lost on that element of the movie. Equally, the chemistry between Russell and Plummer takes some warming up to. They just seem awkward for the first act of the movie. There is one scene, in particular, in the second act that finally breaks such curse, and the romance starts to become geniune. It does take some getting used to.

Overall, Words on Bathroom Walls offers up more than its marketing would lead on. Also worth noting that it has more depth than most films in the young adult subgenre. Words is a bold look into the struggles of Schizophrenia that few films would dare to touch. Heck that most of us would dare not talk about. Taylor Russell and Charlie Plummer lead the cast and deliver both world class performances. Some of the more romantic elements of the movie can get a little lost. Despite of its shortcomings, Words on Bathroom Walls is a brilliant, honest and bold drama.

RORSCHACH RATING:

If you or someone you know is reading this right now and you are struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message or tweet to us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!

Victims and Villains is written Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey (and produced by), Caless Davis, Dan Rockwood, & Brandon Miller. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. Words on Bathroom Walls is property of LD Entertainment. We do not own nor claim any rights. Words on Bathroom Walls is now playing in select theaters nationwide.

You can now support us on Patreon. Help us get mental health resources into schools and get exclusive content at the same time. Click here to join today!