Shopgirl/Kids in America/Stay/Doom/Dreamer/Nine Lives/North Country

why does Steve Martin narrate and also play a character? are these supposed to come across as related? it seems separate to me, since the narrative is in third person.

Sometimes faith in Steve Martin IS justified

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Steve Martin in A Simple Twist of Fate (1994)

Claire Danes, Jude Law, and Jeanne Moreau in I Love You, I Love You Not (1996)

Claire Danes, Gabriel Byrne, and Lena Olin in Polish Wedding (1998)

Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin in All of Me (1984)

Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in Bowfinger (1999)

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in HouseSitter (1992)

Claire Danes, Steve Martin, and Jason Schwartzman in Shopgirl (2005)

As Ray Porter watches Mirabelle walk away he feels a loss. How is it possible, he thinks, to miss a woman whom he kept at a distance so that when she was gone he would not miss her. Only then does he realize that wanting part of her and not all of her had hurt them both and how he cannot justify his actions except that... well... it was life.

Bridgette Wilson-Sampras in Shopgirl (2005)

Steve Martin, Anand Tucker, and Marcus Viscidi in Shopgirl (2005)

Steve Martin and Anand Tucker in Shopgirl (2005)

Steve Martin

Claire Danes

Jason Schwartzman

A film adaptation of Steve Martin&apos;s novel about a complex love triangle between a bored salesgirl, a wealthy businessman and an aimless young man.

Anand Tucker

Shopgirl

Off-Kilter Modern Romance

&quot;Shopgirl&quot; is an off-kilter modern romance. It plays on several conventions of movies, from the old-fashioned &quot;The Shop Around the Corner&quot; to the fairy tale &quot;Pretty Woman,&quot; but takes surprising turns away from those stereotypes.

The look and sound of the film are half of its appeal, from Peter Suschitzky&apos;s dreamy cinematography, to the production and art design that has each character in their own color scheme, to the enthralling score by Barrington Pheloung, though the atmospherics almost overwhelm the three characters who frequently seem like pieces in a set design as the camera slowly glides back to reveal an entire mise en scene.

Claire Danes is radiant and holds our eye and sympathy throughout the film, as we see life mostly from her first naive than wiser perspective, though she is portrayed as just about the last sweet young woman in the country, as all the other women seem pretty cold-blooded. While she has an underlying problem common to such in TV and movies these days, it is handled surprisingly visually and tenderly.

Over fourteen months, she encounters a bumbling young suitor, the adorably scruffy Jason Schwartzman, who even as his character matures retains endearing enthusiasm and quirks, and a sugar daddy in a somewhat mysterious Steve Martin, who is more believable than &quot;Sex and the City&quot;s similar &quot;Mr Big.&quot; Ironically, the few physical comedy scenes are with Schwartzman, not Martin-- and that&apos;s a very funny scene about a condom, as this film in its quiet way is pretty frank about sex.

An occasional voice-over narration is obtrusive and unnecessary, even as Martin&apos;s adaptation of his novella claims the need for an omniscient observer, but the camera and the characters&apos; body language visually communicate the same information. The sudden insertion of a parallel scene where two main characters suddenly explain themselves to listeners who we didn&apos;t know previously existed in their lives is a bit too convenient and doesn&apos;t really fit. 

But the film is on the whole winning, as each character very gradually learns about who they are and who they can be, about the meaning of life, love, success and human connections, and about the clear-eyed choices they can make to attain these, to change or not. While the bulk of the film is set in Los Angeles, it feels like a picaresque journey of discovery as they go from one scene to another.

The song selections are marvelous, particularly Mark Kozelek&apos;s varied twists on different genres to reflect the different characters. It&apos;s a cute joke to have Schwartzman&apos;s &quot;Jeremy&quot; as a roadie when he has been on the road with Phantom Planet. 

The costume design by Nancy Steiner is lovely; clearly the shopgirl was using all the discounts available to her at Saks even before a paternalistic benefactor picks up the tab.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjU2ZDUzMmItODlhYi00NGI2LTgyYzEtNjZjZDg1OWIxODk4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_.jpg

"Shopgirl" is an off-kilter modern romance. It plays on several conventions of movies, from the old-fashioned "The Shop Around the Corner" to the fairy tale "Pretty Woman," but takes surprising turns away from those stereotypes.

The look and sound of the film are half of its appeal, from Peter Suschitzky's dreamy cinematography, to the production and art design that has each character in their own color scheme, to the enthralling score by Barrington Pheloung, though the atmospherics almost overwhelm the three characters who frequently seem like pieces in a set design as the camera slowly glides back to reveal an entire mise en scene.

Claire Danes is radiant and holds our eye and sympathy throughout the film, as we see life mostly from her first naive than wiser perspective, though she is portrayed as just about the last sweet young woman in the country, as all the other women seem pretty cold-blooded. While she has an underlying problem common to such in TV and movies these days, it is handled surprisingly visually and tenderly.

Over fourteen months, she encounters a bumbling young suitor, the adorably scruffy Jason Schwartzman, who even as his character matures retains endearing enthusiasm and quirks, and a sugar daddy in a somewhat mysterious Steve Martin, who is more believable than "Sex and the City"s similar "Mr Big." Ironically, the few physical comedy scenes are with Schwartzman, not Martin-- and that's a very funny scene about a condom, as this film in its quiet way is pretty frank about sex.

An occasional voice-over narration is obtrusive and unnecessary, even as Martin's adaptation of his novella claims the need for an omniscient observer, but the camera and the characters' body language visually communicate the same information. The sudden insertion of a parallel scene where two main characters suddenly explain themselves to listeners who we didn't know previously existed in their lives is a bit too convenient and doesn't really fit. 

But the film is on the whole winning, as each character very gradually learns about who they are and who they can be, about the meaning of life, love, success and human connections, and about the clear-eyed choices they can make to attain these, to change or not. While the bulk of the film is set in Los Angeles, it feels like a picaresque journey of discovery as they go from one scene to another.

The song selections are marvelous, particularly Mark Kozelek's varied twists on different genres to reflect the different characters. It's a cute joke to have Schwartzman's "Jeremy" as a roadie when he has been on the road with Phantom Planet. 

The costume design by Nancy Steiner is lovely; clearly the shopgirl was using all the discounts available to her at Saks even before a paternalistic benefactor picks up the tab.

A film adaptation of Steve Martin's novel about a complex love triangle between a bored salesgirl, a wealthy businessman and an aimless young man.

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Shopgirl

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