"You're not good enough. You're too stupid, too ugly. You are worthless. Now, raise your hand if the voice in your head has ever said any of these things to you.” In this winkingly on-the-nose opening monologue, Control Freak introduces Kelly Marie Tran as motivational speaker Valerie Nguyen, the so-called queen of good habits. She specializes in teaching people how to curb their self-destructive impulses; a skill that has made her rich and famous, but not particularly pleasant in her private life. In the mansion she shares with her husband Robbie (Miles Robbins), she is very clearly the one who calls the shots, living up to the film’s title as she prepares for an international tour.
One leg of this tour will take her to Asia for the first time, a goal that promises to expand her audience, but forces her to get back in touch with her semi-estranged family. In order to get an international visa, she must find a copy of her birth certificate, which her unhelpful father (Toan Le) has seemingly hidden away. As the pressure mounts, Valerie succumbs to an uncharacteristically distasteful new habit, compulsively scratching the back of her head until it bleeds.
