I honestly failed to see what was entertaining about watching a movie of a 37 year old alcoholic woman having a crisis.   Mavis Gary, ( Charlize Theron ) is a writer of books for teens, she is under a deadline to produce the last book of a series.  Her apartment looks like a hurricane went through it or a 21 year old 1995 Internet developer might live there.  She is recently divorced, has a small toy dog, and power drinks on a consistent basis. In short she is an alcoholic, a functional one of sorts. 

When she gets an email update forwarded to her from an old schoolmate lover that has just had a baby, she decides to go and liberate him from his marriage. Back in her small town in Minnesota she meets another person from her high school class that has not gotten over school either.

Theron's performance is certainly similar in quality and oddity to that of Monster, the difference is why ? I failed to see the point in the movie but actually loved her performance. There is no redemption in the end, the movie is incomplete in the sense that after this quirky episode in her life of  a week or so, we don't know and will never know if she changes, or what happens to her character long term.