The Hater
Written, directed and starring Joey Ally ’07
Vertical Entertainment
It’s a common lament that the current political divide is so strong that people are unable to see the humanity of those on the opposing sides of various issues. Writer-director Joey Ally ’07 tackles that problem head-on in The Hater, which finds common ground among its characters without negating the very real problems on which they disagree. It’s a gentler form of political comedy, forgoing scathing satire for character-based humor and emotional growth.
The tone is broad at first, becoming more refined as Ally adds nuances to her main character. Dorothy Goodwin is an ambitious activist. Back when she was a kid, her serious campaign speech for class president was undercut by her popular rival, who made stupid jokes and mocked her appearance. Cut to years later, and adult Dorothy (portrayed by Ally) is possibly even more intense. She gets fired from her job as a speechwriter for a national politician after a video of her wearing a cow mask and burning a flag on federal property goes viral. Dorothy is genuinely passionate about the environment, but her method of advocacy isn’t winning anyone over.
Dejected and ostracized, Dorothy sees no choice but to return to her hometown of Alabaster, Texas, where she moves back into her childhood home, now occupied by her cantankerous grandfather Frank (Bruce Dern). Dorothy tries to pick up the pieces of her political career, but there are no paying jobs for local Democrats in a region where nearly everyone is a registered Republican. When she discovers that her former childhood bully Brent Hart (Ian Harding) is running for state legislature, she hatches a plan to beat him at his own game: She’ll run as a Republican, win the primary, then drop out of the race, handing the victory to the Democrat thanks to a loophole in Texas election law.
“This is legitimately insane,” her D.C. roommate Glenn (D’Angelo Lacy) tells her when she recruits him to be her stylist, and he’s not wrong. Ally presents a challenge for herself in attempting to make Dorothy sympathetic, but it’s a challenge for Dorothy, too, who has to win over the same people she holds in such contempt.
She hatches a plan: she’ll run in the primary against her former childhood bully.”
To that end, Dorothy teams up with another former classmate, Greta (Meredith Hagner), a military wife and mother who knows all the right people in town. Greta becomes Dorothy’s campaign manager, and the two form a bond that makes Dorothy question the motives for her deception. Even the clueless Brent, who has no interest in politics and is just dutifully joining the family business, turns out to have unexpected layers.
Environmental issues are the centerpiece of Dorothy’s campaign. The Hater also addresses abortion, gun control and other divisive topics—without forcing its protagonist to compromise her values. Both Greta and Frank offer Dorothy unwavering support, and Hagner is excellent as a woman who’s far more complex than she first appears.
This is Ally’s first feature film; her critically acclaimed 2017 short, Joy Joy Nails, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. For The Hater, Ally the filmmaker surrounds Ally the star with fantastic supporting actors (including Nora Dunn and Ali Larter) who elevate every scene they’re in and who temper Dorothy’s tendency to seem overbearing. The narrative arc is less about Dorothy’s campaign and more about her coming to terms with her past, from the tragic death of her father to the harsh assumptions she made about the people she grew up with.
The Hater takes an optimistic view of political differences in a way that could be considered naive, but Ally presents it as a hopeful vision for the future. If elections in America worked the same way they do in Alabaster, maybe the country’s political outlook wouldn’t seem so grim.
Bell is a critic and writer based in Las Vegas.
Photo by Elizabeth Kitchens