A new film by Peter Bogdanovich should be cause for celebration – especially when it’s a screwball comedy. Sadly, the best thing about She’s Funny That Way is that it opens and closes on great songs: Cheek to cheek at the beginning and Steppin’ Out With My Baby (both sung by Fred Astaire) over the closing credits.
Bogdanovich and co-writer Louise Stratten are attempting to tell a story about the discovery of a star as part of a screwball comedy. Unfortunately, there’s very little screwing and no balls at all – even with king of testosterone making a cameo at the end.
Isabella Patterson (Imogen Poots) is telling a cynical interviewer named Judy (Illeana Douglas) how she was discovered. It seems she was an escort and one night, she met a client called Derek (Owen Wilson) who said some cool stuff about happiness and would give her thirty thousand dollars if she’d quit the business and follow her dream – which was to be an actress. As she left the hotel room, Seth (Rhys Ifans) sees her leaving – and Seth is star of a new play that Derek, actually named Arnold Albertson is directing.
The next morning she auditions for that same play, causing Arnold to have a bit of a crisis – especially when she nails the role (of a hooker, of course) – because his wife, Delta (Katherine Hahn) is also a star in the thing.
The playwright, Josh (Will Forte) is in the middle of a relationship crisis with his girlfriend, Jane (Jennifer Aniston – whose clients include Isabella and a judge named Pendergast (Austin Pendleton) who is also a client of Isabella’s and freaks out when she quits to become an actress. Pendergast also has a private eye (George Morfogen) following Isabella – and the PI is Josh’s dad.
Confused?
Long story short, lots of doors are slammed; people narrowly avoid other people in public and private situations (until, suddenly, they don’t), and lives are made/ruined. At least a few of the characters have a happy ending, but others… not so much.
The problem is, basically, that the film’s pacing is so off that it’s like watching a punch drunk fighter whose every punch is telegraphed far too early. We can predict with amazing ease just what’s going to happen because the movie doesn’t move quickly enough to get ahead of us – the only rapidity in the film is the talking.
Plus, few of the gags (let alone the running gags) are funny. I laughed maybe three times over the film’s ninety-three minutes – and one of those was at the thought of Rhys Ifans have screaming hordes of barely-past –their-teens fans (though his using the play as a vehicle to plug his merchandising – a perfume called Seth’s Seduction among them).
Essentially, she’s Funny That Way just isn’t funny in any way. Better to stay home and watch What’s Up Doc?, or Paper Moon.
Final Grade: D