Mayim Bialik is such an impressive and likable presence, from her first big splash on “Blossom” in the 1990s through a decade-long run on “The Big Bang Theory” to her gig as the primetime host of “Jeopardy!”, so we were really rooting for her feature writing-directing debut “As They Made Us.” But despite a stellar cast and Bialik showing a natural gift for pacing as a director, this is a depressingly downbeat story with Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergen playing characters who are so thoroughly unlikeable and irredeemable, it’s almost uncomfortable every time they’re onscreen.
Dianna Agron (from “Glee”) delivers a sweet and natural performance as the repressed Abigail, a newly divorced mother of two young children who has spent her entire life at the beck and call of her parents: Barbara (Bergen), a domineering, pushy boor who doesn’t seem to have a kind bone in her body, and Eugene (Hoffman), who has a degenerative condition and is not going to get better. Barbara is in denial about the seriousness of Eugene’s illness, snapping at doctors when they deliver bad news and either berating or firing caregivers who are simply doing their job. (Her other passion seems to be engaging in mean-spirited gossip about everyone she knows.)
