Alice Klieg (Kirsten Wiig) has a borderline personality disorder, living a life of obsession with TV, and especially Oprah. When she wins millions of dollars on the lottery she decides to cut loose from her regime of medication and therapy and try to live out her dreams.
She asks a struggling TV station if she can have her own daytime show, to be called Welcome To Me, in which the only subject matter is Alice herself. Desperate for her money, they management agree, despite many reservations. The result is cringe inducing, narcissistic and utterly hilarious. The show is so bad, even by the usual daytime TV standards, that it attracts a cult following. But inevitably the lack of control in Alice's life means she can no longer control her symptoms, something no amount of money can keep at bay. The ending is cathartic, moving and contains some of the funniest moments.
Wiig gives a brilliantly straight performance, ensuring Alice, whilst uproariously funny, is more a figure of tragedy than ridicule. The real target is the low sense of values to be found in so much daytime TV. Although set in the US, it feels just as applicable here.
As an audience we were laughing constantly, and it is humour that dominates throughout. But underneath the comicality there is an angle into our obsession with celebrity that makes this more than just a simple comedy.
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