Everyone has to start somewhere in every industry, but jumping in for the first time can feel quite challenging when everyone else already knows what’s going on. Wanting to please and fit in is natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. The Debut is an entertaining showcase of one innocent woman’s naïve foray into the world of New Jersey community theater, an immersive journey through hell that she couldn’t possibly imagine which is certainly heightened from real life but probably not as much as those who have spent any time in that world would want to admit.
Mona (Julianne Moore) isn’t really living life. She’s ignored constantly by her husband (Patrick Fabian) and two teenage children, but she’s decided she wants to do something for herself. An audition for a local play doesn’t even result in a callback, but an in-person follow-up with the director, Jerry (Paul Giamatti), happens to coincide with the actress who did get the part dropping out. As Mona shows up to an impossibly welcoming group of costars to play Miss Danielle, the super of a New York City apartment building, she’s starry-eyed and woefully unprepared for the harsh methods Jerry is prepared to impose to push her to become the woman she’s playing.
The Debut marks Jesse Eisenberg’s third film as writer and director following When You Finish Saving the World, also starring Moore, and A Real Pain. This feels more like the former but includes a good deal of comedy, and also features Eisenberg in a small role that allows him to sing and dance, something that he doesn’t get to do often in his acting parts. Eisenberg has a clear voice and pivots from the dramatic backdrop and themes of A Real Pain to a skewering of community theater and the intensity applied by those involved. It’s quite funny, especially when it leads into the intersection of intense and absurd.
Moore has been working consistently for several decades, winning an Oscar for her role in Still Alice in 2014 and appearing recently in May December and The Room Next Door. This is the best vehicle she’s had in years, and there’s one scene in particular which should remain entirely unspoiled for audiences which could and should return her to the Oscar conversation. She perfectly understands this film’s fluctuating tone and knows just when to play Mona as blissfully unaware of what’s happening and then fully – and far too much – tuned in to a role that doesn’t require quite the commitment that she’s determined to give it once she takes it upon herself to go the distance to make it her own.
Giamatti is a natural fit to play Jerry, a character who surely wouldn’t have felt the same without his sardonic, impatient influence. Moore is a marvel on her own, but watching her go toe-to-toe with Giamatti is a true gift. He leans into hyperbole to elicit responses from his actors and only pulls back when he’s really had enough, and it’s quite fun to watch. The rest of the cast feels appropriately over-the-top and relegated to the background, allowing Moore and Giamatti to enthrall as Mona feels like she’s the only person on Jerry’s radar and she must do whatever it takes to impress him.
Eisenberg was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for A Real Pain, which includes witty dialogue and a moving story, but there’s no matching his dialogue here. As brought to life by Moore and Giamatti, its rhythm is formidable and offers a spectacular and often quite uncomfortable sendup of what goes into crafting a role and then getting completely wrapped up in the creative process. Moore is firing on all cylinders in the best possible way, a wondrous surprise that feels like both a building upon and a surprising contradiction of much of her past work.
Movie Rating: 8/10
The Debut makes its international premiere in the Special Presentations section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released theatrically by A24 on December 11th.
