vies Reviews
In a World ... – Movie Review
By Anne Brodie Aug 16, 2013, 15:05 GMT
An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family ...more
Once in a while, a lighthearted satirical comedy comes along that surprises with its dexterity, originality and heart. In a World ... is one of them, a charming, often hilarious slice of life that navigates a dysfunctional family, the voice over industry and the yearning for love and recognition, knit together by an engaging star, who also wrote and directed.
It’s set in Los Angeles which is competitive by definition but that knowledge doesn’t prepare us for the battle of the egos that provide voices for commercials, movies and TV shows and ironically are never seen.
Lake Bell is an interesting and capable woman. An actress with a nice batch of film and TV projects to her credit; she’s also a screenwriter, director and Maxim’s entertaining and knowledgeable car columnist.
Bell’s latest project is all hers, she wrote, directed and stars in this acerbic satirical comedy, a winning if rather later-life coming of age story set in that rarified world of the voice-over artist.
Bell’s character Carol is naïve and loopy, a disorganized voice coach whose father Sam (Fred Melamed) is a voice legend. His is the voice of God who can boom out “...In a world ...” as though the second coming were imminent. Carol has lived in his shadow figuratively and literally and has returned home to live with him and save a few bucks. Her self-esteem is in the dumps. And his young girlfriend is about to move in.
Carol’s sister Dani (Michaela Watkins) is the smart, successful one with a devoted husband Moe (Rob Corddry) and an interesting job as a concierge in an LA hotel. But she’s a whiner, able to have it off with a handsome bounder who picks her up at work.
Meanwhile, Carol wins a huge voice role for the first film in a sci-fi franchise, and nearly kills her jealous, grasping father. He tries to block her by applying for the gig himself. He’s a bad dad. Meanwhile, Carol’s taken up with his mortal voice-over enemy Gustav (Ken Marino) while her voice director Louis (Demetri Martin) pines for her.
There is a lot going on in this film and it’s all intriguing. Bell has the gift. She cleverly extracts her heroine from soul crushing jams without losing her faith and hope. It’s a delicate balance and Bell never drops the ball. Carol towers above the others with purity of heart.
Watch for hysterical cameos by Cameron Diaz, Geena Davis, Jeff Garlin and Stephanie Allynne as the ultimate Valley Girl whose nasal, babyish delivery gives a different impression of who she is. Nick Offerman, sans moustache, plays Carol’s co-worker. He’s uncharacteristically low key as Carol’s friend. There are so many surprises in this delightful film.
A big round of applause for Lake Bell.
35 mm comedy Written and directed by Lake Bell Opens Aug 9 Runtime: MPAA: Rated R for language including some sexual references Country: USA Language: English
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