United States of What?

I just started watching United States of Tara yesterday. The premise is interesting, admittedly making light of a very serious disease- Dissociative Identity Disorder. Tara's different identities, or "alters", each have a distinct personality. There's the teen slut, the redneck man, and the prim housewife, plus Tara herself who skates the line between relaxed artist and protective mother. Toni Collette does an excellent job switching between the characters, though their writing is often annoying and over the top. Her best acting is as Tara, exhaustedly trying to put together the pieces of her life every time she returns to consciousness with no memory of what her alter had done. John Corbett is sweet as her devoted husband Max; I always liked him on Sex and the City and he reprises good ol' Aiden well for this role.

Diablo Cody, of Juno fame, created the series and wrote the majority of the episodes. Her smart-aleck style shines at times (Brie Larson as teenage daughter Kate has a killer 'tude to match) but the writing is almost painfully contrived at others, especially for the housewife alter, Alice. I almost fast forwarded the scenes in which she appeared.

Other highlights include Patton Oswalt as Max's friend Neil and unexpected star Keir Gilchrist as Tara's cute but feisty gay son. Overall, worth a shot if you enjoyed Juno at all or are willing to suffer through the awkward scenes for some laughs and genuine family tenderness.

Watch it online:
Surf the Channel