Overview
- Maddie’s Secret is John Early’s feature directorial debut that he also wrote and stars in, performing the title role in drag.
- The film follows a rising food-content creator whose long struggle with bulimia resurfaces as she moves into on-camera work and influencer culture.
- Reviewers praise the movie’s serious, multidimensional treatment of eating disorders, including realistic inpatient and group-therapy scenes, and note Early chose not to show vomiting on screen.
- Critics single out Kate Berlant’s supporting turn, Max Lakner’s cinematography and Gordon Landenberger’s production design for lifting the film’s blend of camp and melodrama.
- The movie opened in limited release to strong early box-office at New York’s IFC Center, a sign of warm arthouse interest even as wider audience response and longer-term commercial performance remain uncertain.