WELCOME TO ME is a most welcome 2014 showcase for Kristen Wiig, star shining with a marvelous performance every bit as good as some of the year’s awards noticed work from actresses playing circumstance-distressed characters—Julianne Moore as Still Alice, Marion Cotillard’s Two Days, One Night, Jennifer Aniston in Cake. Brilliant with comedy, Wiig irons her ‘get serious’ gear in this razor-sharp sleeper dramedy directed by Shira Piven (Jeremy’s sister), written by Eliot Laurence.

“Ladies and gentlemen, meatloaf cake, with mashed sweet potato icing, with only 433 calories, 52 grams of protein, and only five caibo-hydrants. I think I’m going to have a slice.”

‘Alice Krieg’ (Wiig, 40) has more than her share of ‘issues’, not least the borderline personality disorder that’s left her medicated, divorced, a trial to her family (and one loyal friend) and living on disability benefits. Then suddenly, thanks to a winning lottery ticket, she also has $86,000,000. Inspired by Oprah Winfrey, by the bountiful windfall and by her own boundless self-absorption, after a startling appearance on an infomercial program, Alice uses the winnings to design her own talk show, starring & about Alice—her  whims & causes, her hurts & mood swings. The boundary-gouging idea takes off, but sudden success has a price tag attached.

Wiig’s bold turn is front & center (in every way), her deadpan delivery of Alice’s bizarre notions cohabiting with deft shifts into the pain at the heart of her heart. But she’s too smart a team player to hog the spotlight, and while the talk show may be all about Alice the script frames her with a brace of aces in the supporting cast. The wonderful Linda Cardellini is perfect as her long-suffering best friend ‘Gina’; Wes Bentley and James Marsden are the brothers who produce the struggling infomercial gig that hits the viewer jackpot with Alice’s personal looking glass; Joan Cusack their sane and astonished assistant; Tim Robbins is the psychiatrist who’s done all he can with a patient intent on healing herself, not in private on a couch in an office but on stage sets and live broadcasts in front of everyone in southern California.

Shown at film festivals in 2014, the limited theatrical release in ’15 was buffered by simultaneous streaming venues. At box offices, just $636,819 was collected, 188th as far as ranking, but Wiig worshipers can take heart that cult status lasts longer and counts more than cash registering.

Shrewdly kept to a tidy 87 minutes so as not to exhaust the plot and buzzkill the vibe. With Jennifer Jason Leigh, Thomas Mann, Alan Tudyk, Loretta Devine, Kulap Vilaysack, Joyce Hillen Piven and Jack Wallace.