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Directed by: Anand Tucker Starring: Steve Martin, Claire Danes, Jason Schwartzman Alright, Shopgirl was one of my favorite books that I read last year. Written by Steve Martin, this story of Mirabelle Buttersfield is full of a lot of complicated emotions and desires. Mirabelle Buttersfield is in her late twenties, graduated from college but still not really knowing what she wants. She works at the glove counter at Sak's everyday and pursues a passion in art at night. Her life is very dull and uneventfull and we aren't sure if she has any real friends or people close to her. She seeks companionship from Jeremy (Schwartzman), a similarly aged guy who doesn't know the first thing about talking/flirting/dating girls and they share a really awkward and pathetic relationship for a short while. Then Mirabelle meets Ray Porter (Martin) who is the opposite of Jeremy. He is in his late 50's, very succesfull, very wealthy, and treats Mirabelle the way a lady should be treated. He takes her out to expensive dinners, drives a Mercedes (Jeremy drives a...I couldn't really tell what the hell that thing was), buys her expensive gifts, etc. Mirabelle is very naive and childish and does not know what she is getting into in either relationship. Many of the decisions she makes and the things she says just don't make any sense and really confused most of the audience (I heard a bunch of "what the crap?"s during the screening) and this is because we never really get enough time to get to know her. If we did we would find out how desperate, troubled, dependant, childish/naive she is - and all of what she does would start to make sense. For this reason I was very much dissapointed with the movie. I wanted to everyone to feel for mirabelle and understand her but as one person said to me after the screening "Mirabelle is so drat annoying". To help tie it together and explain a few things Martin has a voice over at the beginning and the end but his voice is so recognizable that it is confusing to consider him the "narrater" and not "Ray Porter". It was nice though to hear it narrated by the same voice that narrated the story in my head when I read it. But the film does have many redeeming qualities. Jeremy is portrayed spot-on by Schwartzman and he even adds a quirkier side that I really enjoyed. Steve Martin, playing the opposite of every person he has ever played ever, did a great job at being the "mr. Big" character. The movie luckily had the correct "walking" pace and didn't try to take on more of the plot than it could - which I was afraid of. The screenplay was written by Steve Martin which means the "Adpatation" cannot be too far from what he actually intended which makes me happy. As long as the Author got to do what he wanted. RATING: 3 PROS: Jason Schwartzman's performance, some great comedy moments, style CONS: lacking depth, unfamiliar characters ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0338427/
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Oct 21, 2005 09:42
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 13:40 |
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Having not read the book, it was still pretty easy to get a feel for Danes' character's position of solitude. We're introduced to her through an average day of being bored and isolated in her work followed by a short montage of her private hobbies and some pill popping. All this is immediately echoed by Steve Martin's first narration, which just adds the details of her transplantation from Vermont to LA. The movie begins with her distant relationship with the city after the infatuation of moving has worn off. The narrative interludes are completely superfluous and awkward. Anything they say could be or was shown with acting. There's only 2-3 of them, so it didn't do much damage. It's a bit too slow and dramatic to be a normal pop culture date movie, most of which start off with quick, witty/awkward exchanges, then move quickly into the beautiful beginnings of love so it can be torn apart. Shopgirl's first half is primarily that awkward first date drawn out over a few weeks. What's fabulous about it is that it nothing ever truly congeals into the perfect relationship; there's always something missing. The parallel between Martin and Schwartzman's characters is most perfectly drawn during their first sex scenes. Both have the mood initially broken, but for completely opposite reasons; Schwartzman's ineptitude (in bringing a mint) and Martin's mature life (in being interupted by the phone). Also, for all the theorists about Steve Martin being a forum member, look no further than how Schwartzman's character deals with women. RATING: 3.5 PROS: I LOVE YOU JASON SCHWARTZMAN. It's sweet without being incredibly stupid. CONS: Slow through the middle. Narration sounds like I wrote it. larkaen fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Oct 26, 2005 |
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Oct 26, 2005 00:28
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I just saw this movie tonight with my ex (as of two days ago). It was almost scary how it paralelled our relationship. I'm very inept, very inexperienced, not very concerned with the future. Our breaking up had (in my opinion) maybe something to do with her crush on an older guy that's quite accomplished and it pretty sure of what he is doing with his life. She told me afterwards, "I hope our story works out like that." Man, do I as well. But all emo rants aside, I thought the movie first and foremost was brilliantly scored. I absolutely LOVED the music. The camera work was great, the screenplay was great - I loved it. RATING: 4.5/5 PROS: Great music, acting, camerawork. CONS: The narration, the horrible sense of apropos.
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Nov 6, 2005 04:20
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I saw this a film of sexual maturity. Exploring female and males. Mirabelle wants a mature man....or atleast think she does. Jeremy is too immature about sex so just does whatever. At the end, they're both mature adults who are able to coupe with a real relationship. Steve Martin's character was just auxilary to Jeremy and Mirabelle. I give it a 4.5/5 The pace was a little slow at times, but at the end, when it all comes together...its pretty good.
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Nov 13, 2005 00:06
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