‘20th Century Women’ has surprises, quirks and well-written characters

If I were going to fill out a questionnaire on a dating site, under “turn-ons” I would list long walks on the beach, a sense of humor and exquisitely crafted dialogue.

It would not get many responses.

But there’s something so exhilarating about hearing characters deliver the perfect words at the exact right moment — regardless of whether any human being would actually respond in such a way — that I couldn’t help but fall in love with “20th Century Women.”

You could easily imagine writer-director Mike Mills (“Beginners”) grinning at his laptop with each passing line of his coming-of-age story about Jamie Fields (Lucas Jade Zumann), a teenager whose much older single mother, Dorothea (Annette Bening), has no idea how to turn him into a man. So rather than turn to William (Billy Crudup), the post-hippie live-in handyman who’s renovating her dilapidated historic home, she seeks advice from her punk-artist tenant, Abbie (Greta Gerwig), and teenage neighbor Julie (Elle Fanning).

“I know him less every day,” Dorothea complains. “How do you be a good man? What does that even mean these days?”

“These days” are the summer of 1979 in Santa Barbara, California. And being a good man means very different things to the two younger women.

Julie, who climbs the scaffolding to sneak into Jamie’s room most nights to sleep platonically beside him, reads both Judy Blume and “The Road Less Traveled” and teaches him how to do “a cool cigarette walk.” She also denies him the one thing he wants most from her: sex. “Friends can’t have sex and still be friends,” she explains.

Abbie, meanwhile, who’s recovering from cervical cancer and dyed her hair red when she saw David Bowie’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” takes Jamie to a rock club, leads a discussion about menstruation during a dinner party and has him read books like “The Politics of an Orgasm.”

“20th Century Women” is a little precious at times, and Dorothea is the very definition of a “character.” The film opens with her Ford Galaxy bursting into flames in the parking lot of a grocery store. She went to flight school with the dream of being a pilot in World War II. She smokes Salem cigarettes “because they’re healthier.” And she tries with all her might to understand the music of Black Flag and why their fans hate those of the Talking Heads.

As Dorothea, Bening is garnering most of the praise, along with Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations. An Oscar nod is not out of the question. But the entire cast is strong, from top to bottom, with Crudup as good and weird as I’ve seen him since he was a golden god in “Almost Famous.” “Your hair smells good,” Gerwig’s Abbie tells his William. “I make my own shampoo,” he replies. “Of course you do,” she sighs.

The real star, though, is Mills’ script. Much like the best works of Aaron Sorkin, “20th Century Women” is crackling with surprises, quirks and odd turns. Plus, it just makes your ears feel good, something that’s vital regardless of the century.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch.