Shopgirl (2005)
Directed by Anand Tucker
Mirabelle is a disenchanted salesgirl and aspiring artist who sells gloves and accessories at a department store. She has two men in her life: wealthy divorcée Ray Porter and struggling musician Jeremy. Mirabelle falls in love with the glamorous Ray, and her life takes a magical turn, but eventually she realizes that she must empower herself and make a choice between them.
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What critics compared Shopgirl to
Lost in Translation minus the cultural condescension, the chasteness, and the behavioral appeal, with another menopausal comedian enchanting a dewy starlet -- Martin as sour ruminator, but who remembers his wacky tour-de-force in Looney Tunes: Back in Action?
Shopgirl, directed by Anand Tucker ( Hilary and Jackie ) from a screenplay by Steve Martin (adapting his novella), ventures into Lost in Translation territory.
Martin spends the entire film trying to channel Bill Murray ’s performance from Lost in Translation .
You'll probably hear a lot of reviewers wearily comparing Shopgirl to Lost in Translation (2003), with all kinds of added caveats, such as: isn't it about time we put this tired old formula to rest?
Anand Tucker's cinematic adaptation of Martin's book is not only penned by the author but features him in the role of Ray Porter, the charismatic fatcat who forms one third of Shopgirl's triangular romance, though his involvement does little to stem the tide of second-rate Lost in Translation preciousness emanating from this misbegotten portrait of modern alienation.
Steve Martin is nicely subdued in the role, an effect that's getting his performance compared to Bill Murray's performance in "Lost in Translation."
Directed by the usually sophisticated Anand Tucker ("Hilary and Jackie," "Shopgirl"), "Leap Year" forgets the most important thing about romantic comedies: We know how they're going to end, so the journey needs to be the fun part.
This is not as farfetched an idea as it sounds: Tucker helmed the (presumably final) installment of the perverse and inspired Yorkshire Ripper-noir trilogy Red Riding: 1983 for BBC Four as well as the considerably more subversive romantic comedy Shopgirl back in 2005.
Director Anand Tucker (2005's " Shopgirl ") and screenwriters Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (2008's " Made of Honor ") achieve this finite goal, albeit through story contrivances, while leaving a far more provocative conclusion in the dust.
(Their collective output includes “Josie and the Pussycats,’’ “Shopgirl,’’ and “Surviving Christmas.’’)
Written by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan (Made of Honor), and directed by Anand Tucker (Shopgirl), the movie seems a rehash of 1930s conventions—It Happened One Night in Ireland.
How a stew featuring the appealing Adams, the magnetic Goode, and lyrical director Anand Tucker (who also helmed Hilary and Jackie and Shopgirl ) fails to generate any sparks is beyond comprehension.