In Review: "She's Funny that Way"

The dog and I had the place to ourselves last weekend so I decided to take a scroll through the On Demand options to see what I could find. And then I found this little indie film with Jennifer Aniston, Imogen Poots ("That Awkward Moment"), Owen Wilson, Rhys Ifans ("Notting Hill"), and Kathryn Hahn ("We're the Millers"). It was advertised as a little romantic comedy. It seemed promising enough so I pressed "Rent". It turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable and something I knew I had to share.

The Story

Arnold, a Hollywood screenwriter, is married to Delta, an actress. They are putting on a play together with Delta and their mutual friend Seth playing the starring roles and Arnold directing. When we meet Arnold, he is calling for a prostitute, a call girl, if you want to talk in Audrey-Hepburn lingo. Her name is Glow or actually, Izzy. Izzy lives with her parents and longs to be an actress. Arnold says that if she promises never to be a call girl again, he will give her a ridiculous amount of money (I want to say $300,000, or something like that).

On a side note, we also have Josh, the playwright of our little play, who is currently dating Jane who is taking over her mother's therapy patients while she is in rehab.

I'm just gonna leave you at that, and tell you it's a rom-com so you know something crazy has to happen.

The Stars

I am continually surprised by this Imogen Poots, and saddened by her unfortunate name. She totally outshone Zac Efron in "That Awkward Moment" as the love interest. Here she is once again contagiously likable and believable as a romantic with an unfailing dream. I hope to see more things from her- maybe even a drama?

On the other side, Jennifer Aniston plays such an unlikeable character that you have to love her for it. She's definitely moved away from the Rachel from "Friends" persona with this film and "Horrible Bosses" and "Horrible Bosses 2". Since she may never get an Oscar (though she should have for last year's "Cake"), due to the politics of the Academy, I say, do you're own thing Jen!

The Message

Nothing ever happens the way you think it will, but everything that does happen was meant to be. That is Izzy/Isabella/Glow's motto. And really it's the truth. Life just kind of happens along the way.

Overall

I have really missed the romantic comedy. The real honest-to-goodness-mixed-up-silly-lovable romantic comedy. I'm thinking "It Happened One Night" (1934) and "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), where it was all about mistaken identity or if someone would just say what they feel the problem would all be solved. There's gag like when one person goes in a door while another comes out and they just miss each other by 2 seconds. Almost like the Scooby-Doo doors. The comedy was all about the situation that about grossing anyone out or going overboard with the sex. It was a movie you could watch with your grandma and not feel any awkwardness. That's the classic rom-com. Not that the new age rom-coms are bad, but there's just something about the original format.

This movie is a classic rom-com. It even has the helpless dreamer, but in this case, it's not so much a man she is chasing after as a career and a place in the spotlight. Which in turn, makes it a modern take on the romantic comedy and instead of ending the movie with a true love's kiss, it's ended with a bow on the stage of her dreams.

I was so happy to run into this movie in a classic rom-com meet cute way. I'd recommend this for anyone who needs a laugh at life or a boost in their inner dreamer.

Like other rom-coms, it won't win any awards or stop the presses with its massive sales, but it was perfect for what it was meant to be.

4 out of 4 Doors Opening