Koch on Film

“Shopgirl” (+)

A pleasant evening of entertainment but not worthy of A.O. Scott’s New York Times review. He wrote, “Every year, Hollywood cuts yards of so-called romantic comedy from bolts of synthetic cloth. The elegant and exquisitely tailored ‘Shopgirl,’ written by Steve Martin, based on his slender novel of the same name, and directed by Anand Tucker (“Hilary and Jackie”), puts most of them to shame. As it relates the delicate, almost anecdotal story of a young woman looking for love in modern Los Angeles, the movie reveals what is missing from most others of its kind: the fact of sex and the possibility of heartbreak, which is to say the very conditions of romance itself.”

Mirabelle (Claire Danes) works in the glove department at Saks Fifth Avenue. She meets Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), a salesman and part-time graphic artist, in a Laundromat and ends up in bed with him. Before meeting him, she was well on her way to becoming a depressed spinster. Her mother, Catherine, is played by Frances Conroy, the wonderful actress who played Ruth Fisher, the mother, in the television series, “Six Feet Under.” Later on Mirabelle meets Ray (Steve Martin), a bi-coastal multimillionaire, and the two become lovers.

All three characters are somewhat dysfunctional. Although they long for the companionship that accompanies love, they are unable to give completely of themselves. The first-half hour of dialogue was often sophomoric, often to the point of being dumb, but it improved. The personalities of the three main characters are defined by their consummate acting. No ménage á trois takes place, so to find out who Mirabella chooses, you will have to see the film yourself. The movie clearly appeals to women based on the comments and applause that I heard from them at the end of the show.

“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” (-)

This farce is as incoherent as its title and it left me at the starting gate. I felt embarrassed when I realized that I often had no inkling as to what they were saying or doing or where the gibberish was headed.

Harry (Robert Downey Jr.) is a small-time “booster” which is argot for thief and burglar, and Perry (Val Kilmer) is a private detective. Harry, who has bizarrely become a movie actor, is being taught by Perry to play the role of a detective. They are out to solve an old crime that has intimations of child abuse. Much of the humor is situational and based on the fact that Perry is a homosexual (with the nickname of Gay Perry) and Harry is straight.

During the movie, which contains lots of slapstick comedy that didn’t move me, I heard belly laughs from the audience and many people in the audience applauded loudly when it ended. I, nevertheless, found it impenetrable and did not enjoy it for one moment.