Suze Review: A Full Heart With an Empty Nest

Suze is a sharp and charming story of a woman finding meaning in unlikely places. Two game lead performances deliver the laughs.

Perhaps the freshness of Suze lies in its setting. Tropes of comedies (Teen comedies especially) often come from societal conventions. While most comedies aiming for mainstream connection borrow from their American kin, this is a Canadian production through and through. Shot in Ontario, and starring mostly Canadians (Watkins being the exception), Suze is refreshingly shorn of so many Americanised expectations. Instead of Harvard or Yale, Brooke is going to college in Montréal, and she’ll actually be legally able to drink when she gets there.

Even more refreshing, though, is the emotional honesty with which Stewart and Clark infuse their film. For all the efforts of the characters to escape from whatever funks in which they find themselves, their efforts come from shockingly raw places. The film opens with Suze discovering her husband (Sandy Jobin-Bevans) cheating on her in their swimming pool. Five years later, Suze has become a living-laughing-loving wine mom with only the bratty Brooke to show for her efforts at divorced parenthood. With a last-minute decision to move further away for college, Suze finds her attempts to ground her life in her daughter’s wellbeing unravelling.

The only person feeling Brooke’s absence more than Suze is the dim but well-meaning Gage. However, this is one hunk with a heart who isn’t going to just coast by. Having failed to graduate, and stuck in the small town our characters call home, he finds his one lifeline leaving him for pastures new, and can’t cope. There is reassurance in Suze’s acknowledging of a loss across generations, and it never diminishes one person’s upset for the sake of the other. When Gage attempts to take his own life, Suze finds an unlikely outlet for her empty nest syndrome; she was never thrilled about Brooke dating Gage, but suddenly finds herself taking him in as his guardian for a brief spell. Between indifferent children and absent parents, Gage and Suze gravitate towards each other out of a need for support and companionship. Suze is never miserable, but these characters are relatable in their loneliness.

Suze’s blend of particularly pained teenage angst with menopausal musings grapples with multigenerational traumas. This is especially impressive when presented with consistent laughs. Stewart and Clark create characters with such warmth and good intentions that the slightest derailment of their plans becomes a comedy. Watkins’ eyes widen any time the put-upon Suze is asked another favour, and the resulting farces recall the best work of Nicole Holofcener. 

Watkins has starred in the likes of You Hurt My Feelings and Enough Said, and bears a resemblance to frequent Holofcener collaborator Julia Louis-Dreyfus. One could see Louis-Dreyfus in the role of Suze, but Watkins takes a rare lead role, and excels. She brings depth and warmth to this muddled matriarch. Paired with the likeable and laidback Gillespie, who gets to show off his musical talents and comic timing as much as his chest, and coupled with the script, Watkins creates a charming portrait of contemporary female doubts and frustrations. This unlikely twosome bonds over their loneliness, but the bond is strengthened by Waisglass’ pitch-perfect petulance as Brooke. Suze and Gage deserve so much more than this brat can give.

Despite the sweet pairing at the core of Suze, some contrivances crop up. Gage brings his new guardian to a cuddle party, but the scene is there merely to inject some awkward humour. Meanwhile, a subplot with Gage’s new teacher/Suze’s new beau (Rainbow Sun Francks) doesn’t go anywhere. Suze works best when focused on its heroine, and her young charge. Across a generation, they find common ground, and the film around them celebrates their doing so. This Canuck confection doesn’t need maple syrup to bring the sweetness.

Suze will be released theatrically at the Laemmle Glendale from February 7, 2025 and will also be available to watch on demand.