Directed by: Lake Bell
Starring: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, and Fred Melamed
Plot: The daughter of a popular trailer voice tries to be the first woman in the field.
Review:
It is easy for directors and actors to become noteworthy among the general public, but every once in awhile, an individual is able to break through to epic proportions in one of the more undervalued aspects of film-making. For example, there is Drew Struzan, who has created some of the most iconic movie posters to date, namely the painted posters for the Indiana Jones trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy. Another, and more relevant to this movie, is the late but unmistakable Don LaFontaine, the voice behind thousands of movie trailers who coined the popular and often lampooned phrase, “In a world….”
The movie exists in a world where the phrase was retired after the death of LaFontaine in late 2008 and that no female voice over artist has ever been chosen for a prominent movie trailer. I honestly don’t know how much truth there is to that, mostly because I never took the time to notice, but the movie doesn’t really have you doubting it.
Lake Bell, pulling triple duty as writer, director, and actor, plays Carol, a voice coach and daughter of the second most famous voice actor, Sam Soto (played by Fred Melamed, an actual promo voice over actor). Carol believes that she is ready to try her hand at voicing movie trailers, but her father keeps reminding her that the world isn’t ready. Instead, he has taken an up and coming voice over actor, Gustav Warner (Ken Marino), under his wing. When a new summer blockbuster looks to bring back the “In a world…” gimmick, the 3 of them compete for the chance to voice the performance.
Lake Bell has a lot of experience with comedy. She has worked the whole spectrum from broad humor to mumblecore, and it shows in her work. This flick never shies away from going for an easy laugh while developing characters and relationships in an organic and sometimes darkly funny way. To say that she doesn’t leave any stone unturned trying to get the audience to laugh is an understatement. She is also really great in the lead. She is charmingly dorky and sympathetically depressed over her station in life.
It also helps when you surround yourself with some incredibly talented funny people. Ken Marino makes over-the-top look funny again, while Demetri Martin, Nick Offerman, and Tig Notaro ease there punchlines into the story catching you off guard. Casting Fred Melamed as her father is an inspired choice. He has a charming way about him even though you have to hold yourself back from punching him in the face. It is the same screen presence he brought to the Coen brothers A Serious Man. He has an old-fashioned sexism that makes him worse because he sounds like he is doing his daughter a favor by pointing out her shortcomings.
Eva Longoria in a pretty funny cameo
On a slightly unrelated note, Carol’s sister and brother-in-law go through some marital problems. Rob Corddry plays the brother in law, a consistent comedic performer who lately has been showing up in more indie comedies that require just as much dramatic work. He has pretty much been killing it in those projects, so it is no surprise he kills it here too. Michael Watkins is the much bigger revelation here. I recognize her from TV episodes here and there, namely New Girl, where she usually plays some stuck up housewife, but she also delivers on every level making this tacked on side story worth it.
Bell uses all of these aspects to try and look at the glass ceiling of work place sexism intelligently and with the right amount of humor. She doesn’t paint it with this “Anything you can do, I can do better” mentality. Instead, she looks through shades of gray where political agendas, biases, and professional aspirations can get out of hand and bubble over into personal lives.
Rating: 8/10
