Dakota Fanning is a young autistic woman obsessed with winning a “Star Trek” screenwriting contest in this lukewarm comedy, which doesn’t dig much below the surface of her condition’s most cinematic quirks.
Fanning’s character, Wendy, lives in a group home and relies heavily on routine to get through her days. Sweaters are color-coded to correspond to days of the week, and she knows not to cross San Francisco’s busy Market Street for any reason. She’s still prone to shrieking, head-smacking meltdowns, like when her married older sister (Alice Eve) denies her request to come live with their family.
Despite all of this, Wendy somehow embarks on a solo quest to Los Angeles to deliver her spec script to Paramount Pictures in person. Director Ben Lewin...