NOTE: This is a reprint of my review from this year's Sundance Film Festival. Still worth a read!
A raunchy, fast-paced comedy about two mismatched girlfriends running
a phone sex line from out of their apartment? Sounds like a potential
gold mine for studios in this post-Bridesmaids landscape, and that would be right since For A Good Time, Call...turned
out to be one of Sundance's biggest sales, bought for a cool $2M. It's a
major win for first time scribe and the film's star, Lauren Anne
Miller, but whether Focus Features made a wise buy is another story.
Ari
Graynor is one of the most talented young comediennes working today,
but it's usually been in scene stealing performances in films led by
someone else. She gets her first real shot to shine as Katie, a bubbly
sex pot who when we first meet her is workin' a stripper pole like a
pro. Not that she's a stripper, it's just a pole she keeps in her
apartment for exercise. That's just who she is. Katie oozes sex, and she
excitedly delights in cultivating her image. There's just one problem.
Her rent has gone up, and facing eviction in just a few days she's in
desperate need of lifeline.
On the other end of the
spectrum is Lauren(Miller), who has just been dumped by her boring,
douchebag boyfriend because he grew tired of their same old routines.
While he flew to Italy to have an adventure, Lauren's world quickly
falls apart. A straight-laced girl who wears frumpy clothes and appears
to have no social life, Lauren is completely unprepared for any amount
of uncertainty. No place to live, and unable to stay with her flaming,
porn-mustachioed best friend Jesse(Justin Long), she's on the verge of
being out on the street. Jesse, who has been friends with both for
years, comes up with the wild idea to have Lauren and Katie be
roommates. This would be a tremendous thought to have if both women
weren't nursing a grudge over an unfortunate mishap involving urine and a
bumpy stretch of road.
With nowhere else to go, the
two decided to give it a trial run, and despite a rocky start they begin
warming up to one another. Lauren has her eyes set on working at a
major publisher, while Katie gets by doing whatever work she can find,
including working as a phone sex girl. When Lauren suddenly loses her
job, and prospects start to look dim, she agrees to help Katie create
and expand her own phone sex business.
Graynor is the
star of the show, and she continues to be as effervescent as ever. What
makes her so charming is her utter commitment to every single role,
regardless of how small it may be. Her comedic timing is always spot on,
and she's one of the few who can make an unfunny film watchable. Such
is the case here, as For A Good Time, Call...gives the impression
someone had a really cool idea for a five minute skit, but artificially
inflated it with eighty minutes of comedy filler just to make a feature
film. After about the fifth or sixth time you hear the ladies talk about
dildos or say the "F" word, it starts to wear a little thin, and it
becomes obvious that the only hook of the story is hot chicks saying
really nasty things. That's something that is definitely worth
supporting in small doses, but a good movie it doesn't make.
Miller,
who co-wrote the script with Katie Anne Naylon, clearly is aiming to
make a feel good, crowd pleasing comedy, although it's curious she felt
the way to achieve this was by being as potty-mouthed as possible.
There's little in the way of conflict between Katie and Lauren, which
makes it harder to invest in their staying friends, but also demands
that a number of ridiculous diversionary subplots to fill up time. So we
get momentary distractions like a religious zealot infiltrating the
business, Lauren's parents constantly coming over at the worst possible
moment(think Jim's dad in American Pie),
and Lauren's budding relationship with one of her regular callers(Mark
Webber). None of these amount to much, and by the time some major
revelations are dropped on us out of nowhere(neither woman is exactly
who she seems), it's hard to care.
Other than Graynor, a
number of hilarious cameos keep the film afloat at various points.
Kevin Smith, and Miller's new husband Seth Rogen, pop up to play the
guys enjoying themselves(a little too much) on the other end of the
line. Miller, in what is also her first major lead role, holds her own
opposite Graynor's wild energy.
If Focus has designs
on making this their own little version of Bridesmaids, then perhaps
they'd be wise to note what made that film work. It wasn't just that it
was full of gross out gags, but that it wasn't utterly reliant on them
for laughs. What kept people coming back was the humor found in the real
bonds between all those women. For A Good Time, Call is good for a chuckle or two, but never taps into anything real enough to be memorable.