Mistress America: A surreal, strange, slice of life unlike any other

Mistress America is a missed opportunity...

Mediocre and forgettable coming of age drama

Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts in While We're Young (2014)

Eric Stoltz and Annabella Sciorra in Mr. Jealousy (1997)

Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jack Black in Margot at the Wedding (2007)

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, and Ben Stiller in The Meyerowitz Stories (2017)

Eric Stoltz and Annabella Sciorra in Highball (1997)

Don Cheadle, May Nivola, Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver, and Raffey Cassidy in White Noise (2022)

Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, and Owen Kline in The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Eric Stoltz and Olivia d'Abo in Kicking and Screaming (1995)

Greta Gerwig and Lola Kirke in Mistress America (2015)

Meadow had made rich fat women less fat, and rich stupid kids less stupid, and lame rich men less lame. And she wanted so badly to be on the other side... to be fat and stupid and lame and rich. But what she couldn't see most of all, more than she couldn't see that she was never going to get the restaurant, was that those people were *nothing* compared to her. They were matches to her bonfire. She was the last cowboy, all romance and failure. The world was changing, and her kind didn't have anywhere to go. Being a beacon of hope for lesser people... is a lonely business.

Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson in Mistress America (2015)

Greta Gerwig

Lola Kirke

Shana Dowdeswell

Noah Baumbach

A lonely college freshman&apos;s life is turned upside-down by her impetuous, adventurous stepsister-to-be.

Mistress America

Too Pretentious For Me

Over the years, I&apos;ve liked some of Noah Baumbach&apos;s films, but not others, and this one I&apos;m sorry to say was disappointing. Here, Baumbach directed and co-wrote the script with Greta Gerwig.

The underrated and most talented Gerwig also stars in the movie as Brooke, a free spirit who&apos;s leading a whirlwind of a life, with a myriad of part-time jobs but looking to close a deal on a new restaurant, in the Williamsburg section of NYC.

Lola Kirke co-stars here and gives a fine performance as Tracy, a first year college student at Barnard, aspiring to be a writer but having loads of problems fitting in on campus. Brooke and Tracy are slated to be step sisters when Brooke&apos;s father and Tracy&apos;s mother marry in the near future.

Thus, when Tracy, at the urging of her mother, calls Brooke and they meet for the first time in Manhattan, Tracy finds herself willingly caught up in the cyclone of Brooke&apos;s life. Tracy even finds herself using Brooke as inspiration for her short story that she submits to the prestigious Mobius Literary Society at her college.

All of this seems well and good, but for me the problem with the movie is in the dialogue, which often came across to me as mostly pretentious, whiny, and even mean-spirited at times. Thus, the characters that emerged were so shallow and self-absorbed that I mostly lost interest in what would happen to any of them. When that happens to me as I view a film, I start checking the time wondering when it will be finally over.

Overall, Gerwig and Kirke are solid here, with many actors in supporting roles adding much as well. However, as mentioned the occasional clever or humorous line was overshadowed by dialogue that came across to me as affected and pretentious, leading to surfacy and shallow characters.

Tracy is a lonely college freshman in New York, having neither the exciting university experience nor the glamorous metropolitan lifestyle she envisioned. But when she is taken in by her soon-to-be stepsister, Brooke - a resident of Times Square and adventurous gal about town - she is rescued from her disappointment and seduced by Brooke&apos;s alluringly mad schemes.

Official Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTA5MjgxODMwMTJeQTJeQWpwZ15BbWU4MDM4MjI5ODUx._V1_.jpg

Over the years, I've liked some of Noah Baumbach's films, but not others, and this one I'm sorry to say was disappointing. Here, Baumbach directed and co-wrote the script with Greta Gerwig.

The underrated and most talented Gerwig also stars in the movie as Brooke, a free spirit who's leading a whirlwind of a life, with a myriad of part-time jobs but looking to close a deal on a new restaurant, in the Williamsburg section of NYC.

Lola Kirke co-stars here and gives a fine performance as Tracy, a first year college student at Barnard, aspiring to be a writer but having loads of problems fitting in on campus. Brooke and Tracy are slated to be step sisters when Brooke's father and Tracy's mother marry in the near future.

Thus, when Tracy, at the urging of her mother, calls Brooke and they meet for the first time in Manhattan, Tracy finds herself willingly caught up in the cyclone of Brooke's life. Tracy even finds herself using Brooke as inspiration for her short story that she submits to the prestigious Mobius Literary Society at her college.

All of this seems well and good, but for me the problem with the movie is in the dialogue, which often came across to me as mostly pretentious, whiny, and even mean-spirited at times. Thus, the characters that emerged were so shallow and self-absorbed that I mostly lost interest in what would happen to any of them. When that happens to me as I view a film, I start checking the time wondering when it will be finally over.

Overall, Gerwig and Kirke are solid here, with many actors in supporting roles adding much as well. However, as mentioned the occasional clever or humorous line was overshadowed by dialogue that came across to me as affected and pretentious, leading to surfacy and shallow characters.

A lonely college freshman's life is turned upside-down by her impetuous, adventurous stepsister-to-be.

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