Too much of everything

Simply Perfect

I wanted to but couldn't!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) gets caught dating both Grace (Gretchen Mol) and Philip (Justin Kirk). The movie flashes back to the time when she's dating Samantha (Julianne Nicholson). She's a Puccini opera loving New York writer. Her ex Nell (Tina Benko) and Vivian (Kate Simses) are advancing in their relationship. Samantha hates opera, questions her lesbianism, and breaks up with Allegra to go back to her former boyfriend Jeff. As Allegra resigns herself to be alone, she meets first Philip and then Grace. She sleeps with Philip. Then she sleeps with Grace without knowing that they're actually in a stale long-term relationship together.It's a quirky little rom-com. I love all the actors although Reaser may not be up to being a manic comedic lead. She's not quite big enough to fill the character's shoes. There are some light humorous moments that are kinda funny. The laughs are never big enough to rise up to hilarious. There is a little bit of an interesting take on lesbian relationship struggles. The irreverent tone adds up to a cute but strictly small little indie.

Yes, we get it. Lesbianism is in. It's way cool and hip.Thing is, it doesn't make for good movies. And when an entire film is centered upon a self-absorbed lesbian's facile and pointless introspection on her lesbianism, it takes the reasonably intelligent viewer about fifteen seconds to know that spending even another fifteen seconds upon the movie is fifteen seconds wasted. The characters are the typical Manhattanite stereotypes, are acted amateurishly, and aren't the least bit interesting.Rubbish - pretentious and insulting rubbish. Steer way clear unless you like to watch trash films just for the sake of watching trash films.

To me this is a decently made digitally-recorded film. It looks better than many low budget features. Photography and sound is generally good except for interior lighting that in places seems a little too flat for my taste. Yes, it follows in the "screwball comedy" tradition to some extent. Occasionally, early directorial efforts attempt to bring in more themes than they can successfully integrate fully. The operatic theme and title wanders off and gets lost somewhere about halfway through. Two sushi chef characters are funny and provide more zest and unity end-to-end than the operatic theme. Various other minor characters who speak just a few words all enhance the story as well and keep it moving. Dialog relies on psycho-babble for exposition. This does not necessarily detract if the audience can understand it. But the thought that this might be lifted from Woody Allen never occurred to me while watching the film first without, then with, the commentary. Any resemblance this film may bear to certain W.A. hallmarks as others have suggested is coincidental. This isn't a mere goofy / silly wisecracking comedy, either. It has gender identity issues that inevitably darken the mood for the major part of its potential audience. This core aspect of the narrative reduces the film to a subculture where it needs to succeed within a limited cult following to become commercially successful. Several comments in the narrative reemphasize the writer-director's gender orientation and politics. Given key career and relationship choices that most of the lead female characters make during their arc, it's questionable whether this film is going to engage a lot of general public sympathy. Nevertheless, plentiful relationship dynamics such as basic ability to communicate apply to all romantic relationships. The outcome here is more positive and carries with it greater depth that gives this film its charm.

Directed and written by Maria Maggenti ("The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love"), this disheveled 2007 romantic triangle comedy has several likable elements, but it never seems to coalesce into something more resonant. The chief problem is that the protagonist, a neurotic, opera-loving lesbian writer appropriately named Allegra, is so perpetually self-absorbed that her dilemma never elicits much sympathy. Elizabeth Reaser is an appealing character actress but frankly not charismatic enough to get away with the commitment-phobic shenanigans that Maggenti throws her way in the acerbic script. The gap causes an odd imbalance with her more intriguing co-stars Justin Kirk and Gretchen Mol. Kirk, who soared as Prior Walter in Mike Nichols' epic 2003 adaptation of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America", harnesses his quirky persona effectively to play Philip, a bored philosophy professor who becomes attracted to Allegra.In turn, Allegra finds herself drawn to Philip but is still reeling from a break-up with her conflicted girlfriend of nine months. Meanwhile, Mol (refreshingly frank as "The Notorious Bettie Page") seems to be channeling a bit of Meg Ryan's flaky self-righteousness in playing Grace, a pert glass-blower who just broke up with Philip. Grace meets Allegra, and the standard complications ensue. Even with the lesbian angle, which Maggenti handles with aplomb, the indie movie feels more like a throwback to a 1930's screwball farce, especially seen in a hectic party scene where all three principals converge in a most haphazard way. Emotional isolation is a worthy theme to explore, but Maggenti can't make the film snap with the strength of her witty observations. One would have also expected a reference to Puccini, in particular, his tragic opera "Turandot", to be reflected more fully than it does here through the plodding plot structure. The 2007 DVD has an insightful commentary track from Maggenti and editor Susan Graef, as well as a couple of deleted scenes.