2012 - Some Girl(s)

"Some Girl(s)"
Synopsis: On the eve of his wedding, a writer travels the country to make amends to past lovers.
What You Need To Know: For all the cinematic crimes that Neil LaBute has been responsible for ("Lakeview Terrace," "The Wicker Man"), he can still be an incisive writer, on stage and screen, when it come to the politics and power balance between men and women, as demonstrated by earlier work like "In The Company Of Men" and "Your Friends And Neighbors." Which is why it's promising that this film version of one of his better plays is on the way, and it tackles the kind of subject matter he made his name on. Directed not by LaBute, but by Daisy von Scherler Mayer (who was behind "Party Girl" and "Madeline," but more recently has been working on TV shows like "Mad Men"), this sees the charismatic, still somewhat underused Adam Brody take over a role played on stage by Eric McCormack and David Schwimmer, with Emily Watson, Jennifer Morrison, Mia Maestro, Zoe Kazan and Kristen Bell making up those he's visiting along the way. Whether von Scherler Mayer is able to make the source material cinematic is the big question (though the country-hopping structure should help), but the play and cast are strong enough that this can't really be a disaster, and could well turn out as one of the better films of the festival.
When: March 9th at the Topfer Theater, followed by Monday 11th and Tues 12th at the Alamo Village, and Friday 15th at the Stateside Theatre.

Directed with style by Daisy von Scherler Mayer (who made Madeline and The Guru), the film starts relatively sedately as it follows a successful writer (Adam Brody) on the eve of his wedding as he criss-crosses the country, meeting up with ex-girlfriends in an attempt to make amends for past relationships and the issues that ended them.

His first assignation is with now-married Sam (Jennifer Morrison) in Seattle, a girl friend from schooldays; his second with sexually free-spirited Tyler (Mia Maestro) in Chicago; his third with married college professor Lindsay (Emily Watson) in Boston; his fourth with his former best friend’s little sister Reggie (Zoe Kazan) back in Seattle, and finally with “the one that got away”, Bobbi (Kristen Bell) in Los Angeles.

Sam is a gentle soul with fond memories of their time together; Tyler would be up for an affair – claiming “no harm, no foul” – while Lindsay is still angry with him, especially since his book The Calculus Of Desire obliquely mentions their affair and what happened. And is even more annoyed when he mentions the movie rights have been sold, though has her own plans for a form of revenge.

The film reaches is dramatic peak when he meets with Reggie, whose character did not feature in LaBute’s original production. She is a 26 year-old journalist, but had an encounter with him (unnamed) on the eve of her 12th birthday when he slept over at her family home. He tells her he thinks it was a simple kiss…but she stares at him as says: “Do you remember touching my ass?”

She adds:” You were a man…you knew what was going on…it was not right doing that to me.” It is a powerful and disturbing sequence, and to a certain extent takes the dramatic sheen off the final encounter who toys with him a little, but also takes him to task for his behaviour towards her, calling him an “emotional terrorist,” while he thinks of himself as an “fearless cartographer of the soul,” when she unearths that he is only talking the women for an article.

Emily Watson and Zoe Kazan are especially impressive (though they have the meatier and more dramatic roles), while Kristen Bell handles the nuances of her role with ease. Adam Brody to a degree has a thankless role – his character is quite simply a cad and a bounder (though a fruitier description would be better) and he can do little but use a little charm to balance against his manipulative behaviour.

The simply staged backdrop is a series of hotel rooms, with the sequences interlinked by shots of aircraft and airports, with Daisy von Scherler Mayer wisely never attempting to open up the story and allowing its stage-bound origins be centre-stage.

http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-lat...&contentID=1479

Stylehaul catches up with Adam Brody and Mia Maestro at the Some Girl(s) world premiere at SXSW. The movie also stars Kristen Bell, Zoe Kazan, Jennifer Morrison and Emily Watson. Check out this exclusive clip from the movie and our interviews. Tell us: Will you go see Some Girl(s) in theater?