TIFF 2026 Review: The Debut – “One of the best films of the year.”

Courtesy of TIFF

Musical theatre nerds, rejoice! Because The Debut is just as good as you’ve heard through the grapevine.  Might it have used a little more Bernadette Peters? Sure, but what couldn’t?  This film truthfully isn’t really a musical, but more a movie about a musical which is taking place in a community theatre and they are about to hold auditions for the three-night run of Nosy Neighbors.  But regardless of the context, you’ll find lots to love, even if you aren’t a regular at the theatre.

Mona Friedman (Julianne Moore) is a suburban housewife feeling a bit directionless.  “The kids can drive.  She doesn’t do anything anymore,” her condescending husband ‘jokes’ with their friends.  So Mona branches out, and decides to audition for the aforementioned show.  The director, Jerry (Paul Giamatti, as always, exceptional) isn’t very impressed.  But, when his first choice for the role unexpectedly quits, he’s left with little option but to cast the only other person who turned out for the part of Miss Danielle, the apartment superintendent.  Mona finds herself dropped right in the middle of a foreign world, with a group of castmates played by Halle Bailey, Bonnie Milligan, Colton Ryan, and even writer-director Jesse Eisenberg himself.  

To say that Jerry is still unimpressed by Mona would be an understatement.  But, in a scene that certainly inspires enthusiastic audience reaction (and is a prime example of why you should see this in as full a movie theatre as possible) he manages to bring Mona out of her shell.  It’s also the scene where you realize Moore, who needs to prove nothing more in her remarkable career at this point, is absolutely perfect in this role.  She’s awkward and kind of cringey as Mona, but she’s about to BECOME Miss Danielle as she strives to understand, or more aptly embody, her character.  It’s an uninhibited, wild performance by Moore who is as likely to win her next Oscar as she’s ever been.  There is something about Mona which, as much as she is self-destructing, still keeps us present, watching not for the seriocomic car wreck unfolding in front of us, but because Moore makes us care.  She keeps the audience empathetic to Mona even when she is on the edge. 

The Debut can toe the line of absurdity, but Moore’s dedicated performance, or perhaps Eisenberg’s realization, manages to keep it grounded at just the right moments.  It’s difficult to say who deserves more credit when two creatives seem to mesh so well.  In 2022 Moore starred in Eisenberg’s directorial debut When You Finish Saving the World.  It had very little fanfare, playing at Sundance that year, but to middling reviews.  However, Eisenberg wrote this film with Moore in mind and she does seem to fit in with Eisenberg’s creative energy in a way that would make us all lucky if they decided to continue making films together. 

Eisenberg followed up that film with A Real Pain in 2024 which won him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and a Best Supporting Actor statue for Kieran Culkin. Don’t be surprised if Eisenberg adds to his trophies here for, at least, Best Original Song.  Because as much as Eisenberg has excelled in front of, and behind the camera, he also wrote the tracks for the fictional musical Nosy Neighbors.  The song that’ll be at the forefront has Julianne Moore singing “The city may have chewed me up, but it hasn’t spit me out.”  It’s a showstopper, and sung by Mona (or, more rightly, Miss Danielle) it only reinforces the transformation she’s undertaken. 

The Debut is one of the best films of the year.  It doesn’t overstay its welcome.  It’s funny, entertaining, a true crowdpleaser with an exceptional cast. Eisenberg wrote The Debut from a kind of autobiographical place, based on his experience in community theatre when he was young. So it makes sense that it’s here that Mona finds a sense of identity and belonging, as he did. There’s a certain power in that, to finding a communal purpose in art, no matter the stage of life you’re in.  And if you head to the theatre to watch The Debut, which I highly recommend, you just might find that too.  

The Debut had its international premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, September 13th.  For more information head to tiff.net