Review: “Ramona at Midlife”

By Morgan Roberts

Director: Brooke Berman
Writer: Brooke Berman
Stars: Yvonne Woods, Alysia Reiner, Joel de la Fuente, April Matthis, Rosemarie DeWitt, Zarah Mahler, Robert Beitzel, Catherine Curtin, Brian Slaten, Yetta Gottesman, Kristen Vaganos, David Alan Basche
Runtime: 1hr 16min
Year: 2025

Men have always been afforded the chance to have a midlife crisis - on screen and in life - and have that moment be seen as pivotal in their growth as a person. Yet women are required to everything figured out before they turn 30. Life is not linear which requires women of all ages to struggle, adapt, and grow with each change thrown in our direction. The film “Ramona at Midlife” is able to articulate that crossroad and reflects a real human experience.

Written and directed by Brooke Berman, “Ramona at Midlife” captures the rediscovery and existential ennui that occurs as women grow older. Ramona (Yvonne Woods) is a writer who hasn’t written anything in years. Recently separated from her actor husband Carlos (Juan de la Fuente), her deepest insecurities and quandaries are relegated to the letter she writes to Patti Smith but never sends. However, her discomfort at her stalled life becomes something she is determined to protect when filmmaker Jonah Mansbach (Robert Beitzel) plans to turn her midlife crisis into a film.

Yvonne Woods in “Ramona at Midlife” | Gravitas Ventures

Ramona is an extraordinary central character.  She has achieved commercial and critical success with her first book, but found her writing sidelined after kids and marriage and creative insecurity took hold. Whether or not you are at that stage in your life, you can absolutely see parts of yourself in Ramona. She is so unabashedly herself while holding trepidation and guilt at desiring more for herself and for her life. As we get older, with the responsibilities we’ve inherited over the years, it becomes more difficult, particularly for women, to start anew. Even if starting over isn’t a complete fresh beginning, it is trying to understand where one can venture out that can be tricky.

Additionally, as Ramona tries identify that balance during that time of change, the responsibilities she still has to attend to are also ever-present. Many things don’t stop: the kids, work, social obligations, co-parenting. There is an unattainable perfection that she and the women in her life are held too. She is expected to manage all of this while rediscovering who she is. It is this balancing act that is so recognizable for many women.

It is not necessarily fair to compare films, but “Ramona at Midlife” feels akin to a Lynn Shelton feature. Berman captures the same attention to humanness that oozed through Shelton’s work. The film is incredibly grounded, while taking the mundane or ordinary feel extremely important. How often do we look past women like Ramona and not wonder the world inside their heads, the trials and tribulations they might be enduring. We lose our sense of wonder and empathy with each other. Yet, “Ramona at Midlife” reignites that intrigue. Berman brilliantly drops us into Ramona’s life and allows us to exist with her in her lived-in reality. Whether it is a reflection of yourself or women in your life, Ramona’s humanness shines throughout the film.

“Ramona at Midlife” is a refreshing film about reinventing yourself after others may have underestimated you. At the center of the film, we have a layered, nuanced woman worthy of our compassion and attention as she navigates this precipice in her life.

Grade: A

Pair This Film With: “Friends with Money” (2006) dir. Nicole Holofcener; “Take This Waltz" (2011) dir. Sarah Polley; “Touchy Feely” (2013) dir. Lynn Shelton

You can now watch “Ramona at Midlife” streaming on VOD on Prime Video and AppleTV.