ViewGuide

Created Aug 24, 2013 06:28PM PST • Edited Nov 11, 2017 02:07PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   In a world … where shallow people and male chauvinists thrive, and attractiveness drives income, there’s a woman smart enough, pretty enough and funny enough to write, direct and star in a great little RomCom.

   Lake Bell’s her name and taking on the patriarchy’s her game. Well, the part of the patriarchy that operates in an obscure corner of the movie industry, the world of trailers, a.k.a. previews.

   More specifically, her movie skewers the clubby world behind the voiceovers that sell coming attractions. Stentorian male voices have ruled this world since well before the Hollywood Golden Age, one above all: Don LaFontaine, the In a World… man himself.

   Now Bell – as the daughter of his rival – must duel both her Dad and a party hookup to succeed him. Half Daddy-issue drama, half Cosmo kiss-and-tell, her story has all emotional bases covered, at least from a female POV, which is fair enough given In a World’s womanly patrimony. (Oops, is that sexist?)

   The good news is that the movie works for both sexes. I found it regularly LOL, though probably not as much as the dates and girlfriends around me in the theater. Still, anyone who loves movies, enjoys seeing Hollywood get gently skewered, or just likes smart and funny comedies will find In a World delightful.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Lake Bell proves a deft comic actress, pretty enough to attract guys good and bad, amazing with a wide variety of accents, and possessing better-than-average comedic timing. Her long resume of sitcoms, romcoms and other kinds of coms is obviously no joke. Writing for herself however, she’s clearly found her métier. Let’s hope there’s lots more to come.

   Fred Melamed reaches his apotheosis as her hugely successful Dad. (Well, professionally successful. As a Dad, not so much.) A prominent voice actor in his own right, Melamed first came to my attention as the adulterer in the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man.

   Michaela Watkins underwhelms as his other daughter. In fairness, Bell wrote her a straight-man role, which she delivers well. Rob Corddry is almost sympathetic as her husband, a newfound quality for this abrasive actor.

   Ken Marino slays as Melamed’s friendly rival and Bell’s party hook-up. Marino is also currently in theaters in We’re the Millers. A double-threat, he often acts in movies he writes, such as last year’s Wanderlust. Either way, he’s like a poor man’s Alec Baldwin, which is not a bad thing at all.

   Demetri Martin nicely plays Bell’s intended through all the awkwardness that impedes two nice people from easily getting together.

   The strong supporting cast includes:

   • Alexandra Holden as a groupie who bagged herself an older legend.
   • Eva Longoria is a good sport as herself, in desperate need of voice coaching.
   • Tig Notaro as a butch voiceover artist.
   • Nick Offerman delivers one of his patented deadpan supporting turns. This is the third comedy he’s been in this summer, improving each one: We’re the Millers and The Kings of Summer being the other two. Who needs TV?
   • Jason O’Mara suavely plays an Irish charmer.
   • Talulah Riley fetchingly plays a hot British neighbor named Pippa. Of course Bell named her Pippa. BTW, the lovely Talulah is Elon Musk’s ex. Wonder how many Teslas she got in their divorce settlement?
   • Geena Davis delivers a regal cameo as a studio exec.

   The real Don LaFontaine appears in archival footage, though I don’t recall hearing him utter the immortal three words In a World.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Lake Bell’s film is a RomCom with punch, dealing in real emotion and real situations, including a recovering alcoholic, self-absorbed Dad, slacking daughter, rough marriage and strained sibling relationships, not to mention awkward romantic and sexual dynamics. In fact, she traffics in lots of awkwardness, most of it intentional to be funny, once intentionally funny but then apparently not. (The nose sucking scene.)

    It’s also a female fantasy, where men really do seek to keep women down. In Hollywood this may be true, especially in the voiceover game. But that’s the problem with Hollywood Politics. It’s informed by Hollywood Business, a perverted form of commerce unlike most every other part of the economy.

    To Lake Bell’s considerable credit, her female fantasy also includes good men who persevere in relationships with their wives and future wives. Even the bad men are shown in fairly well-rounded terms, notwithstanding their testosterone fueled egocentric manias.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

    Impressively mild, albeit salty and titillating enough to be respectably risqué.

17. Sex Titillating 2.3

18. Violence Gentle 1.3

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

    In a World… captures the off-Hollywood scene in L.A. to a tee, an industry town where everybody’s on-the-make, many happy just to make the scene. This comes across kind of like a light-hearted and contemporary Day of the Locust.

    Speaking of being on-the-make in Hollywood, three cheers for Lake Bell pimping her movie in her birthday suit on the cover of the current New York Magazine. Pictorial evidence is nearby.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.8

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0