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In a World . . . was written, produced, and directed by Lake Bell. Can you guess who stars in the movie?

This modest comedy takes place in the mini-world of people who do voice overs. Apparently this world exists. And, like all such worlds, it has stars, former stars, people who want to be stars and will make it, and people who want to be stars and won't make it.

This world also has alliances, feuds, betrayals, burning hates and burning loves. It's the same as any other profession, except that it's invisible to the rest of us. (When was the last time you knew the name of someone doing a voice-over?)

Bell is a good director and a good actor. (And, yes, her voice is fabulous.) She keeps her excellent ensemble cast moving along. The story line starts with boy meets girl, so you know how it will end, but there are enough unexpected twists and turns to hold your interest. It will work well on the small screen. My advice--seek it out and see it. Just don't expect a movie that's so powerful that it will change your life forever.

After watching an infinity of trailers for violent, over-the-top, sci-fi or thriller or political espionage movies coming down the pike, my question is Why aren't there more charming and happy movies? They sell well too.

So what a delight to see In A World.

It is a quirky and sophisticated comedy. Perhaps it is a chick-flick, but not overwhelmingly so.Yes, some of the criticisms herein are true, but not damaging enough to detract from a thoroughly enjoyable cinema experience. The acting is terrific, the plot and subplots are simple, the humor is amusing and even at a couple of points a true belly laugh, and altogether, the movie is a winner. Kudos to Lake Bell and team.

Lake Bell wrote, directed and starred in this comedy of a voice coach who wants to make it as a voice-over star, a boy's club dominated by her famous father, the reigning king of movie trailer voice-overs. The small group are competing for the voice-over role for an epic new blockbuster series that's bringing back Don LaFontaine's famous "In a World..." putting the father and daughter at conflict.

Currently making its rounds of the festivals, where it picked up the Waldo Salt Screen writing award at Sundance USA and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It's a great script that zips along, full of believable characters, handles the central conflict deftly and is never annoyingly quirky, just consistently funny.

Featuring an uncredited cameo by Cameron Diaz and a whole host of comedic talent from the LA circuit including Demetri Martin, Ken Marino, Rob Corddry, Geena Davis, Nick Offerman and Eva Longoria. Lake Bell confirmed at the Sundance London director's Q&A she'd written the script with all her friends in mind but she is the stand-out, anchoring the film and flawlessly delivering around different accents in her performance.

A feminist film that delivers its message without forcing itself upon you and puts the comedy foremost, it's great fun, well worth tracking down at release and shows Lake Bell to be a great talent to watch.

"In A World" is a drama genre movie dealing with the life of voice-over artists. Frankly, this movie will shock you with the details shown. I was always aware of voice-over music or speech, yet this movie explores that industry, its artists & their struggle, aspirations, process etc.

Cast wise, Lake Bell is the soul of this movie in every perspective. Being the director, writer and co-producer along-with being the lead actor of this movie, she has done a commendable job. I saw Lake Bell only in "Boston Legal" where she was completely over shadowed by others, but in this movie, she leads the way in every possible manner. Other supporting cast, especially Fred Melamed have done very well in his role.

The unique storyline, performances, short & apt running time are the positives of this movie. When you watch a movie with very low expectation and are surprised and amused by the movie, negatives aren't remembered or noted even if they exists. This movie was such an experience for me. Watch this movie and you will be completing it feeling enlightened and amused.

Overall Rating: 07/10

Don LaFontaine narrated many trailers of noted movies, often opening with "in a world". So, Lake Bell has directed the movie "In a World...", focusing on voice-over artists. These people usually get the short shrift in the entertainment world but have contributed a lot. Bell's character is the daughter of a voice-over artist and is hoping to break into the business.

I really liked "In a World...". In addition to the quirky plot and smooth character development, I hope that it draws more attention to the world of voice-over artists. I also am eager to see Lake Bell's next movie, if she makes one. Really worth seeing.

I didn't know anything about the movie other than the synopsis, and so I thought it was a documentary. Nope!

That said, this was one of the most laid-back movies I've seen (and liked) in a while. It feels so much like a typical "independent" movie from the late 90's/early 2000's, that it was very refreshing. The dialogue felt very authentic (a few scenes felt improvised, even), and the main character is awesome. I hope this movie becomes more popular just to showcase this character to a wider audience. She's the female lead character we're not shown too often in Hollywood- she's just kinda...normal.

Demitri Martin is also awesome, and I wish he had more screen time (though his character was wisely kept in small doses). The supporting roles, as well as the B-plot characters, are mostly great, though there are a couple of two-dimensional characters who feel written in for convenience, or cheap gags.

The movie is not without flaws, either. At times the characters' dialogue overlaps each other and comes out a bit too quick. Especially in the beginning, I had trouble figuring out what was going on because I couldn't pick out what the people were saying. But then again, that did add to the authenticity of the film overall.

Also, one person's "authentic" is another person's "boring" or "unmotivated." Like real life, stuff just kinda happens and people just kinda do things. It felt very much like just suddenly watching somebody's weekend. I can see how that might irritate some people, who'd want a more audience-friendly flow and script.

I only mention it because it threw me off at first- since I expected a documentary, I had no idea what the movie was trying to be for the first 10 minutes or so. But it did all come together in the end, and I liked it.

A friend invited me to a Sundance USA event in San Francisco, where they take 10 films from the festival and show them in different cities around the US. I had no idea what the movie was even about, and obviously no expectations.

I was completely blown away. 'In a World' was one of the funniest, cleverly-written and flawlessly edited movies I've seen this year (2012-present). From Demetri Martin, Rob Cordry and Lake Bell herself, the acting was fantastic. I had seen Lake Bell in 'How to Make it in America' and thought she was great, but I had no idea how unbelievably talented she is (i.e. playing an accent- obsessed speech coach/aspiring voice-over actress who does probably 10+ flawless accents throughout the movie...a movie she wrote and directed as well. No big deal).

I'm not sure if this movie is getting distributed to a wider audience, but I'm grateful my friend convinced me to go. If you have a chance to catch this, it's a must-see.

A curious thing struck me about this movie, something you rarely see on screen: The living quarters seemed very realistic. Most of the characters worked on the fringes of the entertainment industry and were barely getting by. None of them had the standard issue, blatantly unaffordable, starving artist loft apartment as seen in so many movies. Instead, they had run-of-the-mill places in a so-so part of town. I was impressed they got this detail right. When we first saw Louis' place, I started to call BS because the outside appearance was intriguing, but I breathed a sigh of relief to find it was actually a cracker box on the inside.

In case you can't tell, I found this movie to be very enjoyable. The Dad was a juicy, borderline insufferable character. As obnoxious as he could be, he was fun to watch.

The movie had a few interesting subplots and themes woven around the main story. Not an out and out comedy, it still had some very funny moments, including some inside jabs at Hollywood. I especially enjoyed Geena Davis' brief role as a movie executive, and the confusing and somewhat contradictory bit of advice she offered.

And oh yeah, it's got Nick Offerman in a minor role. So far he's batting a thousand in my book, so check it out.

IN A WORLD... doesn't exactly have a totally engaging plot (some of its B-Plots are even weaker) but the film has such character and cute and hilarious humour naturally within the interactions that it's a joy to watch.

The cast across the board is great from the leads to a few smaller parts adding even more humour from the likes of Nick Offerman and Ig Notaro.

Gender inequality takes the for front of this film, with excellent family moments and hilarious cynicism from the lead. Of course it also has a sweet romantic story happening throughout too. It's a fun clever movie and a good watch.

Lake Bell delivers as the screenwriter/director/star and looking forward to what she does next.

'IN A WORLD': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Actress Lake Bell makes her feature film directorial and writing debut with this indie comedy about a woman struggling to compete in the male dominated movie trailer voice-over world. The title refers to one of the most common trailer voice-over lines in film history (made famous by legendary voice actor Donald LaFontaine). The movie also revolves around the desire of the competing voice-over actors to take over that line (and landing one trailer that would allow them to do so). The film co-stars Rob Corddry, Demetri Martin, Ken Marino, Michaela Watkins, Fred Melamed and Nick Offerman. It's an impressive performance by Bell on all fronts!

Bell stars as Carol, a vocal coach who stumbles upon a big break in to the movie voice-over acting world. Her father, Sam Soto (Melamed). is a veteran in the business who's now retiring. When a popular book series is going to be turned into a probable blockbuster film franchise the first film trailer is heavily sought after, especially because it will bring back the popular trailer line 'In a world'. Soto wants his friend, and likely successor, Gustav Warner (Marino) to land the gig but when Gustav gets laryngitis Carol is asked to record a temp track instead. Her recording is so good that the producers want her for the trailer instead and a heated competition begins.

The movie is funny and touching in just the right places. All of the characters are written and acted well and I didn't even get into the plot line involving Carol's sister and her husband (Watkins and Corddry). They're part of the movie was actually the most touching to me but the main storyline is an interesting and entertaining subject for a movie (and one that hasn't been used much before, that I've seen). Bell show a lot of talent not just as an actress but as a writer and director as well (now). Certainly she's not just another pretty face!

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UY2UtXfI_w

A sentence that someone wrote on the board sums it up for me: "This movie has moments of minor charms, but it is really all over the place - it's about fathers, daughters, husbands, wives, the voice-over industry, gender politics, new love - and it never comes together into a coherent picture." It gets lost in its subplots, and it has long stretches of nothingness. During most of the movie I didn't really know anything about the characters' goals or why they existed or anything. They were just there doing funny things sometimes. I guess that Lake Bell's character was covertly competing with her dad to be the next "big movie voice," but I really have no idea if this goal was the main plot because the movie strayed so far away from it, and it was never actually explicitly stated. Although I was mildly entertained by some of its humor, overall I was very bored and walked out after an hour-- around the time when Ken Marino sucked on Lake Bell's nose. Twice.

You have to see In a World — if for no other reason, it's the perfect story to explain to someone the glass ceiling faced by most women. In a World is genius. It's brilliant, amazingly well written, and filled with all kinds of nuances that speak to our lives and what is right and wrong with them. Family issues. Sibling connections. Loving someone out of your league. Commitment and its challenges. Self confidence. Need I go on? Rarely will you go to a movie that offers so many mirrors of yourself to look into. Thank you, Lake Bell.

So, who is Lake Bell and where did she come from? This movie is in the Juno category, and even if it's a one-shot wonder, I want to know this person who is behind it.

It took me a good ten minutes to figure out where I'd seen Lake Bell before. Then it hit me. She's the dragon tattoo lady married to Meryl's ex in It's Complicated. I was stunned. It's so rare to see someone on the screen who can be more than one persona. When I realized she'd written it, directed it, and starred in it, I was blown away. Blown away, I tell you. I have very little desire to meet Hollywood players, but I would have lunch with Lake. Dinner. Breakfast. Tell me where and when, and I'll be there. I want to pick her brain. What made her think of it? What was her father like? Has she done voice-overs? Oh my, maybe we should spend a weekend at Canyon Ranch? One meal isn't enough time.

The cast is obscure and perfect. The sisters look like sisters. Rob Corddry, who plays Lake's sister's husband, will tear your heart out. He makes the case over and over again for marrying the nice guy, not the guy who sends your heart into cardiac arrest. Ken Marino, who plays Gustav and has the difficult task of walking close to the line of ridiculous, nails it. There is one weak link, however. Fred Melamed, who plays Lake's father, is off. I'm not sure exactly why, or whether he was playing it the way she directed, but he's not quite believable.

Here is what I love, love, love about In a World: It proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you can make great movies without a star attraction. It proves that there can be many Hollywood writers. It proves that we can rework this industry, and women can have a voice and a place in film. It shows the sheer depth of resources that exist for making films that are unique, compelling, and funny.

Judging by the trailer, In a World is a pretty funny comedy. But as with a lot of trailers, this is managed by cramming it with all the movie's funniest lines. So while the trailer has five or six really solid laughs, the same can be said for the movie, which for the most part is generally humorous but not terribly funny.

The film does have several things going for it. The idea of taking a peek at a niche part of the film business is a fun idea. Dmitri Martin's inability to ask the girl he likes out is clumsily charming. Lake Bell is quite likable.

There are also a few issues I would take with the structure, which feels a bit too lose, with subplots that don't seem to really support the story and aren't especially interesting on their own. And at the end, the movie seems to search around desperately for a moral and come up with the idea of female empowerment, which, even though that is one of the movie's threads,feels like it just went from a minor theme to *the* MAJOR THEME without proper preparation.

None of that is really a big deal; this is the work of a young, talented filmmaker who hasn't totally learned her craft, but it's still original and pleasant. It's just not funny enough or compelling enough to be more than something cute and forgettable.

"This Wednesday, one woman will teach another woman to sound a little less retarded."

Lake Bell starred, directed, and wrote the screenplay for this quirky romantic comedy which doesn't follow the normal standards of a genre film and at times feels like it's all over the place, but the awkward and goofy humor really worked for me. The kind of humor in In a World isn't for everyone, but I had a blast because I have a similar weird sense of humor like this. Bell was great in this film and I really liked her goofy character, she was charming. I had a lot of fun with this story and enjoyed all the quirky characters, but despite all the goofiness the film does make a statement about sexism in the film industry. Perhaps it is a bit heavy handed in the way it hammers the issue over and over again but the satire of Hollywood and all the back stabbings involved in the business worked extremely well for me. This screwball comedy is a bit ambitious but it works thanks to some charming performances and a tender romantic backstory.

The film opens with a tribute to the now deceased Don LaFontaine (who was the king of movie trailer voice-overs) through archival interview footage. In the interview Don's close friend and also a voice-over artist, Sam Sotto (Fred Melamed), is sharing his memories with the legend who coined the phrase "in a world" at the beginning of most of the movie trailers he lent his voice to. The other person interviewed is Don's son, Gustav (Ken Marino), who has inherited his father's empire and follows his foot steps as well. Sam has also been mentoring Gustav who he considers to be the future of the voice-over world. We are then introduced to Sam's daughter, Carol (Lake Bell), who has been working as a voice coach for other actors helping them on their accents and dialects. Carol doesn't make enough money to live on her own so she moves in with her sister, Dani (Michaela Watkins) who is married with Moe (Rob Corddry). Her life turns around when she agrees to do a voice-over gig that a young shy kid named Louis (Demetri Martin) offers her. Louis runs a sound mixing studio along with Heners (Nick Offerman) named Sound Mix-A-Lot. Carol does her job so well that she quickly begins getting more offers and all of a sudden has become a threat in the male dominated voice-over profession, competing against her father and Don's son.

Lake Bell is charismatic and her character has a lot of spark in this film which allows her to carry the movie despite being all over the place at times with different subplots. She is easy to route for in a male dominated world which she is about to interfere with. The story has many awkward moments which I found silly, but charming. She had great chemistry with Demetri Martin and their romantic story was more tender than what we usually see in a Hollywood rom- com. In a World is unbalanced at times, but the individual performances make each turn worth it. Nick Offerman and Rob Corddry were great in their secondary roles and they gave the film that extra spark that was needed. There were also some entertaining cameos. Lake Bell's solid work here leaves me interested in her upcoming projects because she has proved she has talent and a voice that should be heard.

feels like an European movie, probably because it comes from the heart.

i'm getting to see now and then stories that don't seem too exciting - about ordinary people, living ordinary lives - only what really is ordinary when every person is unique, and in every live there is excitement and struggle and love and pain.

not too often to see those "simple" things in an American movie, at least in a not exaggerated, highly pretentious, aesthetic style, but told as a intimate story, shared with a stranger on a bus stop.

"in a world..." has many touches that make it a great movie, even if it 'only' tells a story of a small group of people, young and ambitious, older and solemn, each with his part in the lives of others. some realizing the impact they make, others just following their big goals in life.

again, surprisingly intimate, well told story - congrats to the team and Lake Bell

IN A WORLD is set in the hitherto unexplored world of voice-over artistes; those people who are always heard announcing film trailers whose identities are seldom revealed. Carol (Lake Bell) is struggling to make a living in the shadow of her father Sam's - stage name Sotto's (Fred Melamed's) reputation. Hitherto the voice-over market has been dominated by male artistes, with Gustav (Ken Marino) seeking to challenge Sotto's position. By accident Carol manages to obtain a high- profile gig at Gustav's expense, and from then on she is set on the road to voice-over stardom. Needless to say her male rivals are outraged by this subversion of what they perceive as the 'natural' - i.e. patriarchal - order of things, and try to unseat her, even though Sotto is initially unaware of the female rival's identity. IN A WORLD makes some neat satirical points about the inflated egos of voice-over artistes, who in their way are equally as prima-donna-like as any other performers, even though they spend their time having to teach better- known actors how to speak properly. There's a neat scene in the film where Carol is shown trying to teach Eva Longoria how to speak cockney, a difficult task at the best of times. Nor does director Bell - who also wrote the screenplay - give us the pleasure of a wish-fulfilling ending: Carol is shown returning to her first love of teaching young women how to pronounce better, so that they may advance their careers. Voice-over artistes do not necessarily have to restrict their professional focus to the movie world., The script is both sharp and witty, with good supporting performances from Demetri Martin as a sound engineer trying to declare his love for Carol, and Rob Corddry as a long-suffering husband.

I hope you're lucky enough to see this movie - stream it on Amazon for free if you're a Prime member. Best movie in our house this year, mainly for the simple enjoyment of the characters that told the story.

The casting, the acting, and the writing are all great. Why? The choice of actors didn't focus on big names (to me), but on people more concerned about the role. The acting was witty and consistent throughout. The writing was true to real life, with uncomfortable elements of conversation, and, yes, people talking over one-another at times (which some viewers did not like, but I found it genuine).

This was the first time I can recall seeing Lake Bell. Was she great or am I just enamored with the resemblance to Amanda Peet? That comparison is more than striking. It seemed that she and Michaela Watkins truly were sisters, given their brilliant, somewhat confrontational, and I'm-there-for-you-when-it-really-matters interactions.

Other things I liked:

-Terrific sound mixing! Quite unexpected surround greatness.

-1.5 hours told the story, and they didn't drag it out

-No silly chase scenes or killings to hype the story

-Not social commentary, just fun (other reviewers disagree)

-Bit-part roles added, not distracted (neighbor, office staff)

When voice coach Carol enters the competitive world of voice-overs, she finds herself grappling with industry heavyweights to get her voice - literally - heard. The plot is pleasingly simple and moves at a comfortable pace, but the real strength of this film is the script. The dialogue is smart and funny, and the film addresses everything from gender inequality and dysfunctional family relationships to awkward interactions with the hot neighbour.

The comedy credentials are evident in the film's cast. Lake Bell, who also wrote and directed the film, is supported by Ken Marino (Party Down) and Fred Melamded (A Serious Man), who play her competitors and rivals in the voice-over world. Marino is suitably smug in his role as up-coming voice over artist Gustav, and the scenes in which he recounts his seduction of a one-night stand are hilariously, embarrassingly graphic. Likewise, Melamded's turn as the pompous, veteran artist Sam is spot on. Both characters take themselves excruciatingly seriously, and the humour in their interactions comes naturally without feeling forced.

Despite the sharp comedy and stable performances, there are moments in the film that don't ring quite true. Carol spends much of the film being told by her father, coworkers and other characters just how competitive and cut-throat the voice-over world is. Not to mention the fact that she's a woman, which makes the whole thing almost an impossibility. And yet, within what seems like a week of providing a demo for a trailer, Carol has landed herself three more jobs. Unfortunately, the film doesn't show this; the information comes in the form of an announcement. Which raises questions: if it really was so hard to get the work, why don't we see this struggle? How has Carol managed to shoehorn her way in so quickly? It all seems a little false, and too easy - for a film all about the struggle of a woman in a man's world.

My second gripe is how underused some of the cast members are. Demitri Martin, known for his quirky sense of timing and tightly written stand-up comedy, plays the likable but rather bland love interest. Likewise, Michaela Watkins (Saturday Night Live, Enough Said) and Rob Chorddry (Community, The Way Way Back) spend most of the film nursing their relationship back to health, while the great Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) does little but provide feeder lines for Carol to punch into jokes. Bell's cast is rich in potential, but somehow her funny, cynical script failed to capitalise on this.

Overall, however, the film was smart and funny, and highly enjoyable. Lake Bell is charismatic as the main character, and the rest of the cast - underused or not - are intensely watchable. Critics and audiences alike are raving about the film, and with good reason. It's hard to dislike a film as charming as this.

I don't know what kind of movie Bell was trying to make here. I suspect she wanted to say a few things about gender politics in Hollywood and families and decided to hedge her bets by making it lighthearted. The script she delivers is a weird hybrid of domestic drama and romantic comedy that doesn't work as either.

A big problem here is the character of Carol's father. This character belongs in a noisy farce and not in a quiet movie like this one. The way this man is so over the top in his ego, self absorption, and general obnoxiousness is distracting from the rest of the story. The way the character is redeemed in the end is so phony and unearned that it actually makes me a bit angry to think about it.

The movie is well cast and well acted. There are bits and pieces here, such as a scene of voice over artists talking at an industry party and the entire subplot involving Carol's sister and brother-in-law, that I wish could be somehow relocated into a better screenplay. There is enough to like here that the movie is kind of entertaining until the last fifteen or twenty minutes when the movie becomes completely tone deaf and starts hitting one wrong note after another.

In a world where screenplays with engaging and well rounded characters exist, "In a World..." shouldn't.

Lake Bell is appealing in the lead role as Carol, an aspiring voice-over artist, and as writer/director she's come up with a unique variation on a familiar indie formula: 30-something slacker gets kicked out of the nest. There's a lot going on-Michaela Watkins and Rob Corddry as Carol's sister and brother-in-law get a whole little romcom to themselves-but Carol's various struggles, professional, romantic and familial, mesh together very well. The cast is impressive: nice to imagine that somebody would cast Eva Longoria as a Cockney gangster's moll (though not in this movie, I'm glad to say), and Geena Davis turns up briefly as a studio exec who delivers a crucial message, maybe THE crucial message. Fuzzy, flabby Fred Melamed ("A Serious Man") is definitely the go-to guy when you need an overbearing a**hole, though Ken Marino seemed a little too cartoony as Carol's voice-over rival-more like an escapee from a Christopher Guest movie. Wouldn't have minded seeing more more about the worrrrld of Hollywood voice artists and dialect coaches; it's refreshing to watch a film where the characters do something real and don't just have vague glamour jobs as lawyers or architects (mainstream) or toil away as peons on a cube farm (indie). Available on streaming Netflix.

"Let's be honest, the industry is not craving a female voice." Carol (Bell) is a voice coach working in Hollywood trying to get her big break in movie trailer voice-overs. When she sits on for a demo trailer her life changes. She begins to get offers for more trailers as well as commercials. She is suddenly in the running for the coveted "In a world..." trailer comeback. The only problem is her famous father and his protégé (Marino) want the same thing. This is another little seen gem of a movie. While the movie basically seems like a movie only people in Hollywood would care about it is so much more. The movie has a lot of heart and humor and is very much worth seeing. Lake Bell wrote, directed and starred in this. This could be the beginning of a huge career for her. The father character is so selfish and un-likable that it makes it hard to like him which really makes you root that much harder for Carol. This is really just a little fluff type movie that has a lot of heart and something that is worth seeing. I liked it. I give it a B.

I can't believe the exaggerated positive feedback this title is getting. Don't get me wrong, I like Bell, I absolutely love some of the other actors here but the movie is not in any shape or form deserving of the 7.5-ish rating it gets from both users and metacritic.

It's not bad but it's not good either. It feels all over the place without any real focus, there is a lot of otherwise good stuff (in a longer feature with sharper direction maybe) that ends up as nothing but filler alongside a very weak and otherwise not engaging main story line.

Some people define cinema as the art of showing what you want audiences to see and getting rid of everything else that doesn't bring value to the whole. This is not it. It's a bucket with ALL the stuff thrown right in. It's somebody falling a flight of stairs - funny at times but definitely not Cirque du Soleil grade material. A shame.