Kristen Wiig can really shine with the right material. Bridesmaids is a perfect example. Unfortunately, a movie like Girl Most Likely just wants her to take her ignorant and neurotic screen persona to the max and hope it works. She’s all alone here, and the movie suffers. Never once did I care whether or not her struggling writer figured out any of her dilemmas.
Girl Most Likely, available now, follows Imogene (Wiig), an unsuccessful writer in New York. She’s as annoying, ignorant and pretentious as they come, and her boyfriend has just broken up with her. She tries to fake a suicide to get his attention, but people take her note a little too seriously. She’s sent to spend some time with her mom (Annette Bening) outside of the city.
Despite a promising cast surrounding Wiig (Bening and Matt Dillon are two examples), no one is given a three dimensional or original character here that audiences can root for or against. Everything is written as if we are supposed to be watching ants on a hill disconnected from any future outcome. Shout out to Christopher Fitzgerald who gives the standout performance of the movie as Ralph, Imogene’s innocent an innocently naive brother.
The biggest issue with this film is tone. The movie wants to be a poignant story about a middle aged woman finally growing up, but it’s not that smart or convincing. The movie also wants to be a humorous look at a middle aged woman being forced to deal with her crazy family, but it’s not that funny.
Maybe the film just needed some rewrites, but I think the real problem here is story and voice. The story never once makes us care. It never presents a reason for us to keep watching Imogene or care about here life. Then there’s voice. Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are going for the engaging dramedy tone a lot of films of late have captured, but they never mix the comedy and drama quite right. The movie ends up being just a big mixed bag of average pleasures.
The Blu-ray includes a making-of feature, gag reel and deleted scenes.
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