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No killings, autopsies, swearing, nudity, guns or drugs. So what's left? It's a film filled with conversations between people. It's just all very pleasant with nice dialogue. I didn't like Rose or Jimbo because I hate those people. I thought Aubrey Plaza should have had a larger role.

'DAMSELS IN DISTRESS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Quirky teen comedy-drama about three college girls who run a Suicide Prevention Centre and offer words of wisdom and advice to troubled new college students while also trying to deal with their own issues. It was written and directed by Whit Stillman (who also helmed the eccentric comedies 'THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO', 'BARCELONA' and 'METROPOLITAN'). It stars Greta Gerwig, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Carrie MacLemore, Analeigh Tipton and Adam Brody. The movie is pretty aimless and slow paced but it's also always amusingly strange and whimsical.

The story is set at an East Coast college named Seven Oaks where Violet (Gerwig), Rose (Echikunwoke) and Heather (MacLemore) attend. The college has a mostly male dominated tone, despite becoming coed several years earlier, and the women feel forced in to having to deal with brutish and dimwitted guys all the time. They run a Suicide Prevention Centre and are also constantly trying to recruit freshman girls in to their clique to educate them on the ways of the campus (as well as the world). This year's recruit is Lilly (Tipton). Lilly runs in to man troubles right away and the others try to help her deal with them while also dealing with their own.

The movie has no real direction or strong character objective. It just kind of follows these young girls around as they struggle with adapting to life. It's slow and will bore the hell out of some viewers but others will be quite entranced by it (and others somewhere in between). I found the dialogue to be quite witty and funny and I loved all of the performances. I also really enjoy how quirky and in love with individuality the film seems to be. To me that's a great message to send young viewers (if they actually see the film, it might have missed it's target audience). The movie is a quiet little piece of cinema joy if you let it be.

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olADa6vEcMk

Violet Wister (Greta Gerwig), Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke), Heather (Carrie MacLemore), and Lily (Analeigh Tipton) have many things in common; they all talk with a smug tone and they attend the liberal arts school Seven Oaks, which seems to exist in its own little world. To be frank, it seems that Damsels in Distress has erected a world all its own, where pop culture doesn't exist and neither do Televisions, automobiles, or anything along the lines of utilities that we've become accustomed to today.

I love films that exist in the screenwriter's head. One of the more recent examples is Wes Anderson's majestic and enthusiastic Moonrise Kingdom, a film that appeared to have its own mindset and, within in it, its own set of characters, laws, rules, and agenda that it wanted to accomplish. Damsels in Distress isn't quite as majestic and enthusiastic. It's rather monotone, uninteresting, and groggy for the most part. What a shame since this is director Whit Stillman's return to film after a thirteen year hiatus.

The storyline concerns those four girls as they go about their lives at this preppy Ivy League school. One of the first things they do, after recruiting Lily, is recreate the school's "suicide prevention center" where they will use aroma therapy, donuts, and coffee in order to reassure students about their place in the world. Why? In the meantime, the girls began to get entangled romantically with men, from the sophisticated Charles (Adam Brody) to the absolute hunk Xavier (also called, "Zavier," played by Hugo Becker). These relationships seem innocuous but prove to be possibly lethal to the girl's unbreakable bond together and this is what, sort of, gets the film on its feet.

Damsels in Distress seems like a satire lost at sea. It's satirizing, or attempting to, Ivy League life and the strange quirks it possesses. The problem is it never fully gets a grip and forms an agenda on what it wants to parody. We get shells of characters who feel robotic and cold, only capable of saying a funny line but incapable of brewing characterization. The satirical element isn't that witty and neither is much of the film. This is more down the line of surrealism than satire.

Stillman greatly reminds me of the quirk-expert I explored earlier this past summer and the man I just mentioned not too long ago; Wes Anderson. Stillman seems to be completely capable of setting up a beautiful long shot, focusing on characters, and intimately capturing life's wonderful eccentricities. But he struggles in the same field Anderson struggled in with his two features, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, respectively; he focuses so much on look and subtle beauty that he successfully undermines the storyline and the characters within it. Damsels in Distress concludes with a random song-and-dance number almost cementing the fact that there was no conceivable way to completely end this sort of story. It's choppy and inconsistent. But it all looks pretty.

Starring: Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Carrie MacLemore, Hugo Becker, and Ryan Metcalf. Directed by: Whit Stillman.

I believe this movie successfully achieves it's goal of satirizing the young college-age intellectual (or asinine, as the case may be) mindset. The main characters ceaselessly spout all manner of opinions, generally in the guise of bettering the world and others, but their presentation is nothing short of self-congratulatory. Like many young adults, they are convinced their thoughts and actions are worthwhile, if not ground-breaking (international dance craze, anyone?).

This movie is definitely not for everyone. You have to be willing to be carried along by it, and I expect many people give up on it due to the absurdity of the characters. What this movies does have to offer is a palpable affection for the human condition and some really excellent performances, particularly by Greta Gerwig in her lead role as Violet.

If you like this movie, check out "Year of the Dog," which is similarly non-mainstream and somewhat edgier/better.

Metropolitan, Barcelona, and Last Days of Disco are three great movies. Damsels doesn't come close. What made the others work so well, besides the acting, direction, and sets, was the writing: Stillman managed to create characters who were also caricatures, cartoon figures who were also so real it boggled the mind, how he could balance the thin lines between parody, satire, and life.... Damsels is basically a pale imitation. The writing is flat, the dialog doesn't pop, and all in all, the characters remain caricatures. You don't care about any of them. There's not even a semblance of a plot. And there's a terrible enforced dance ending. It's generally true in movies that aren't musicals that, at the end, if all the director/writer can do is have them get up and dance, something is very wrong. The only thing that saves it at all is Gerwig's performance, which is pitch perfect. The others go nowhere, and no one cares.

Stillman's first feature in 13 years investigates the merciless social rules within a campus: it's fun, as wittily and entertainingly dialogued as his previous efforts, but way more off-beat and darkly screwballish. It almost plays as an intellectual version of cult favorite "Heathers" (it might be no coincidence if it also revolves around a bunch of co-eds named after flowers), sparing us the B-movieish third act of Michael Lehmann's film. Lots of fun, with a musical twist around the end that might be able to improve the film's chances to cult-ness.

I caught "Damsels in Distress" in Venice, where it was selected out of competition as the closing film for 2011's festival. Audience was quite appreciative, laughing out loud throughout the whole screening.

Damsels in Distress is perhaps the most pretentious screenplay ever filmed. I imagine there was a more comprehensible first draft and then writer/director Whit Stillman (The Last Days of Disco) pulled the thesaurus off the shelf and went to work. These damsels come across more as ridiculous caricatures than actual flesh and blood characters; nobody could retain any sort of patience around people who talk nonsense the way these girls do.

Lily (Analeigh Tipton) arrives as a new transfer student to Seven Oaks University. During orientation, a group of girls seemingly pick her out at random to join their group; perhaps it is because her name fits the floral naming scheme. Violet (Greta Gerwig) is the leader of the bunch followed by her one-dimensional acolytes, Heather (Carrie MacLemore) and Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke). Violet talks incessantly about the goals of the group which include finding and improving boys who are not particularly good looking or intelligent and staffing the volunteer Suicide Prevention Center. The answer as to why a somewhat normal Lily would so eagerly say yes to joining up with this gang and rooming with them is not forthcoming, but then again, there would be no film if she did not.

Seven Oaks is not your normal university. Instead of a Greek system, they have Roman Letter Houses. So many students are depressed that they take to jumping off the roof of the education building; unfortunately it is only two stories tall so instead of killing themselves they only maim. As for suicide prevention, the route to recovery is neither mood altering pills or talk therapy, but tap dancing led by an instructor calling himself Freak Astaire (Nick Blaemire). I told you; pretentious beyond belief.

The damsels have incredibly keen senses of smell and frequently sniff soap whenever unhygienic dorm dwellers walk by. They are also exceptionally open and frank about their feelings. Violet thanks Lily for chastising her for being hypocritical about arrogance and routinely references Lily as better looking and skinnier. This sounds duplicitous on Violet's part, but it is not. She really is that open and sincere...and blatantly towards a more psychotic end of the mental spectrum.

There is no particular plot thread or story arc to tie the action in Damsels in Distress together. It is more random episodes and contrived situations to spur more inane commentary about the student population and the subject of depression. There are men in the film who cause bits of conflict within the group such as Fred Packenstacker (Adam Brody) and Xavier (Hugo Becker) who has an unhealthy infatuation with a sexual maneuver best left unsaid. Furthermore, an undercurrent storyline is blatant stupidity on the part of almost all of the males. One guy does not know primary colors and gets extremely upset when he sees a rainbow and another is fixated on his bean ball.

I want to impress upon you potential viewers out there that Damsels in Distress is truly as awful as it sounds. Great Gerwig, who eats up most of the screen time, was excellent in Greenberg but I have no idea what she is doing here playing an undergraduate; she is noticeable way too old for this role. There are a few laughs in the dialogue but it is not worth sitting through the whole mess to find them. Avoid this calamity at all costs.

It's clear that some reviewers "got" this film and some didn't. As always, Stillman delivers with marvelous, laugh-out-loud funny dialogue. This is so rare that that that virtue alone sets it apart from the majority of the drivel that passes for conversation in movie scripts these days. You can't tell me that there aren't some one-liners in there that you hear and just *wish* you could have uttered yourself if only you'd had the wit (Whit?).

The characters are all flawed, some lovably so, some not--just like life. You're not meant to like all of them, and it's part of the subtle, social observation of which Stillman is capable that the unlikable characters are not always immediately unlikable. Some characters learn from their mistakes and misperceptions, some do not. Again, like life.

The thing that is so winsome about Stillman's movies is that virtue always triumphs. There is a sweetness to his choice that the good always eclipses the bad. It's almost heart-achingly sweet, because we know that that is not how things usually work out, and yet you find yourself rooting for these flawed, quirky, sometimes idiotic characters to get out of their own way and allow their better natures to win the day. I've wondered for a long time about the central role of dancing in his movies, and maybe it's that when you're dancing, it's hard to do much else, and you become one with music, rhythm, and your dance partner(s). Perhaps that's what he wants for his characters--to use dance as a vehicle to get out of their own way and lead a happier, less complicated, less tortured existence.

My favorite of his movies will always be "Metropolitan," but this is an excellent new addition to his oeuvre. We've been waiting for "the new one" for a while, and now that it's here I find it a sheer delight.

I saw this film due to the fact that critical reviews were mostly positive, and I saw the trailer on a DVD I was renting, and it looked good. Boy, did I waste my time with this one. I watched it all the way through, although at about the 15 minute mark, I came close to turning it off. A ridiculous story that seemed like one giant inside joke which I was not a part of. The performances were terrible, including Greta Gerwig, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Hugo Becker and Ryan Metcalf. The only positive thing I will say is that assuming she's actually able to act, Carrie MacLemore will have the break-out career from this group of actors and actresses.

I realize user reviews for each movie on IMDb are self-selective, and not representative of what's out there. That is, people who like a certain movie are more likely to write a review for a film that they like rather than if they disliked it or thought it was just average. But I am stunned that as of this writing, I saw only one other person who disliked this film. Don't be fooled by all the positive reviews...you'll thank me by avoiding this one at all costs.

Few films recently have been able to capture my imagination like this one. With the glut of comic book films and remakes, very few people are making original films. I was not expecting much going into this film (I saw it at a festival). In fact I had not planned on seeing it, but it seemed "different" enough to warrant a watch. Well, I went in not knowing what to expect and came out with a big grin. I was happy I gave it a shot and was surprised by the other comment on here.

If you want to see something original, that has some break out actors, and is funny, then check out "Damsels in Distress." Days after I left the screening, I kept thinking back on the funny lines and comically earnest characters. Go in with an open mind and come out with a grin.

IMDb does not allow 8.5 stars, but that's my verdict. This goes into the category of films I'll be watching again once it hits the theaters.

Damsels in Distress might be described as a romantic comedy. It's greatest value lays, however, in blending parody with social commentary. Roughly speaking, the college campus in the movie is divided into two camps: rich-but-uneducated and poor-but-unkempt. Between them are the main protagonists with Good Samaritan attitude. And none of the above are fully likable.

I guess that the parody is rather straightforward. The social commentary, on the other hand, might be too intellectual for the average viewer. This was obviously a conscious effort but apparently led to alienating mainstream audience. The reason I'm pointing this out is because in it's essence Damsels in Distress is in no way inferior to, for example, Judd Apatow's Knocked Up or The 40 Years Old Virgin.

This seems to be Whim Stillman's most focused effort to date: Gone are endless Woody Allen-esque dialogues better suitable for Off-Broadway than the big screen. The movie references some of Stillman's previous work, the most obvious being Gretta Gerwig as a surrogate Chloë Sevigny. But this is where i quit deep-diving and continued enjoying the movie.

New student Heather (Carrie MacLemore) enters liberal arts school with high sensibility and goals. Quickly noted by a group of smug conceited self-appointed societal critics Violet Wister (Greta Gerwig), Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and Lily (Analeigh Tipton) she soon becomes accepted as part of their intricate operations. Always taking their cerebral self-awareness to the point of absurdity they exist in some self-created universe, where they attempt to break apart conventions and break down every behaviour to its bare necessity. Treating dorm inhabitants as underprivileged and in need of special care, opening a 'suicide prevention centre' focused on step dancing and handing out doughnuts, or attempting to create a world-wide dance craze, the group thrives on the absurd. The movie follows this inexplicable grouping by creating for them their own awkward reality of student life, far apart from the norm, instead placed somewhere in some sort of "Cruel Intentions" limbo, but without the cruelty or having any intentions, sprinkled with a touch of Wes Anderson alternate reality.

Born in the head of Whit Stillman, "Damsels in Distress" is his supposed big comeback after 13 years of creative hell. Apparently for him such a long divide from filmmaking largely incapacitated his abilities to deliver a flowing narrative, instead focusing on figments of audacious quirkiness, not a far cry from the cult "Rushmore". Overbearing with dry humour delivered under languishing tirades made by characters, Stillman seems like the fabricator of a long inside joke, to which only he is privy. Cutting apart the pieces of dialogue does guarantee finding some pretty wry inspiring writing, but the overall cumbersome triviality delivered with a monotone fashion hardly infuses interest. Much like in any Wes Anderson universe the reality is molded by characters living a seemingly disparate set of laws and rules, but here they are much less coherent. Basically anyone disliking Anderson is bound to revolt against "Damsels in Distress", but even those akin with his sensibility and focus on eccentricity are not guaranteed satisfaction in this groggy and obscured satire. Fronted by distinctly cold characters "Damsels in Distress" has no charm, instead permeating with a sense of frigid pointlessness of its choppy narrative.

Of course in Germany they changed the title into "Algebra in Love". Which kind of is something that is in the movie too, but of course the original title is way better. Although I guess it might be confusing for some who don't have a clue what they are watching too. It just states what situation the women in the movie are. But in a different way than some would imagine.

Gerwig is great in her offbeat role, but the support cast is helping too. It's a tough theme and script to pull off (as can be seen in some commentaries here on IMDb too), but while it won't reach everyone, I think it will reach enough people who will like/love it.

This is one of those movies one gets sucked into because the trailer seems like it might be fun, quirky, and clever. Instead, this one was boring, weird, and dumb. My wife and I tried, we really did. I am a university professor and love my students in all their fun, quirky, and clever ways. This movie did not include a realistic portrayal of any student I have ever met. This movie did not include an actually funny joke. This movie seemed to want to play out a strange gender comparison game in which the goal was to see who were more ridiculous and hollow, the harmless chumps otherwise known as boys, or the self-satisfied and hopelessly superficial girls. There was not a likable character in the lot and I would take my most challenging student over any of the pathetic characters in this movie. I feel badly for the actors and even worse for their professors.

Whit Stillman makes his long overdue return! It's very recognizable as a Stillman film due to the dialogue. Greta Gerwig, Carrie MacLemore and Megalyn Echikunwoke play three college students who come upon Analeigh Tipton, a new student, and decide to include her in their exclusive group. They fancy themselves the smartest, most stylish people around, and they feel it would be a shame if Tipton weren't with them. Like other Stillman films, there's not much plot, just a lot of witty dialogue. I watched this directly after rewatching The Last Days of Disco, Stillman's most recent film, and I do have to say that I find this one a bit weaker than his earlier stuff. There's a dissonance between how smart this film's characters sound and how obviously stupid they are. Heck, one particular character is so dumb he doesn't know his colors. Thankfully, the film is so funny that its flaws don't detract from my enjoyment. Zach Woods, best known for playing Gabe on the American version of The Office, pops in for a second and it looks like Stillman found the reincarnation of Chris Eigemann (who is still alive, mind you). Parks & Recreation's Aubrey Plaza also has a small role.

This is one of the most pretentious and irritating films I've ever seen.

There is no plot or story to speak of. It's about four conceited girls, all named after flowers, who want to prevent suicide attempts by such pretentious means as distributing doughnuts and trying to create a dance craze called The Sambola! (exclamation included in the dance title; I told you it was pretentious).

Most of the film is taken up by the incessant talking of the characters, particularly the lead player played by Greta Gerwig, who is a poor man's Chloe Sevigny. The characters speak in an excessively eloquent and elaborate manner, and are ridiculously open about sharing their feelings. Gerwig's character actually thanks her roommate for chastising her, and she is sincere about this.

The whole film is as dull and monotone as the speaking voice of the lead actress, Greta Gerwig. It is incredibly pointless and painfully irritating. The girls are all named after flowers, the men are either eloquently well spoken or painfully "doofi" (totally pretentious, I told you).

Mean Girls' older sister that went to college, got an awesome biting, dry sense or humor; and got some wicked analytical skills to go along with it. This was just such an adorable and intelligent movie, both extolling the virtues of the undergrad experience while simultaneously panning it. At first, the movie may lose you with its irreverent randomness and quirkiness. Personally, I recommend at least one re-watch, to which it will become more clear and you'll be able to appreciate it more. This movie is one of those movies that has near unlimited replay value so that should be quite easy to do. Although nearly everyone was perfect in their roles, Greta Gerwig as Violet stands out. She's just pseudo deep in a sarcastic spirit that is tough to pull off while acting. The male characters are well done also but play in the background, which is actually kind of refreshing since many movies like this fall victim to sexism, or at least "boy craziness" of the presumably straight female characters. Overall, bravo, brava for this example of a deep, "slow-moving" comedy aimed at us young folk... not many like it these days.

I found this perfectly gauged trifle a delight, a deadpan satire which deliberately keeps its targets muted, the four main characters not unlike something one might find in an 18th Century drawing room, chatting about inconsequentials, but in their own way attempting to drag some significance from a trivial life. How refreshing to see a film with young twenty-somethings not having to express themselves with solely with four-letter words or the dreaded "awesome" because they lack imagination; these folks actually have vocabularies! While no masterpiece by any means, this is a gentle look at maturation, a lightly barbed look at young women that keeps its claws drawn in

I was very much looking forward to this movie, having admired all of Whit Stillman's previous films, especially his latest, the 1998 "The Last Days of Disco." So I was beyond disappointed to discover that "Damsels in Distress" is virtually unwatchable. Is it pretentious? Hard to describe it that way since it doesn't seem to be trying for anything. People sit around or walk around or dance around and chatter in a kind of language that appears to be spawned on an alien planet. Greta Gerwig, whom I have liked in a couple of other movies, is completely lost and inept spouting the idiot dialogue she's given, and the problem extends to the entire cast. I laughed out loud exactly once. Most of the time I cringed and groaned. The movie is absolutely awful and a must to avoid unless you have been losing sleep and need to catch up. No, scratch that. Insomnia is preferable to this debacle.

"Damsels in Distress" lives in a world utterly of its own making, and you're either going to accept that world or you're not. I was won over and found this film to be a charming, eccentric movie about a group of college girls, and one in particular, who hide their insecurities behind a confident desire to better their fellow students.

Greta Gerwig is the leader of the pack, a somewhat annoying girl who also remains rather winning and appealing thanks to Gerwig's terrific performance. The film reminded me somewhat of another movie released this year, Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" (though that's a far better film) in its quirky determination to stick to the rules it erects for itself, but also in its tone and its assembled cast of characters who are all basically good people trying to make sense of a frequently confusing and not always very pleasant world.

"Damsels in Distress" is not going to be to everyone's taste, but, also like "Moonrise Kingdom," if it is to your taste you'll probably be delighted by it.

Grade: A-

Greetings again from the darkness. Filmmakers who see the world in a different way often appeal to me. Whit Stillman fits that description thanks to his Metropolitan and Last Days of Disco. It's been more than a decade since his last film, and his writing remains strong while his director's eye may have atrophied a bit. We get a trippy, twisty maze of dialogue that is not double-entendre, but rather double-take.

The film takes place on a fictional campus named Seven Oaks College. We meet a small clique of young ladies led by Violet. She has a noble life mission of "helping" young men who don't recognize their own potential. She views this as a type of social work. Violet and her troupe are also dedicated to the high causes of perfume and fashion. They volunteer at a Suicide Prevention Center, and seem to possess no skills other than handing out donuts and teaching tap dancing.

Violet's followers include Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke), Heather (Carrie MacLemore) and transfer-student Lily (Analeigh Tipton). They could be termed caricatures, but I am not sure of what. Their philosophical meanderings could be considered arrogance, but their hearts seem to be in the right place. And it's difficult to raise much ire towards Violet when her ambition involves inventing the next international dance craze ... Sambola. She acts like an adviser, almost a guru ... but she ends up needing guidance as much as anyone.

To watch this movie, one must be willing to give Mr. Stillman some slack in the rope. To treat suicide with a touch of glib can be dangerous, but watching Aubrey Plaza defend the importance of "clinical" depression is pretty humorous. Analeigh Tipton acts somewhat as the voice of reason for viewers. She was outstanding in Crazy Stupid Love, and seems to be finding herself as an actress. Zach Woods (The Office) has a couple of decent scenes as the campus editor of The Daily Complainer, Adam Brody is the boyfriend who may not be what he seems, Alia Shawkat makes a quick angry appearance, and Taylor Nichols keeps his streak alive of appearing in all of Stillman's films.

This movie may be best viewed as a glimpse into the mind of Whit Stillman. As a visual film, it's really nothing special. The interesting part is in the dialogue and delivery of those lines ... plus the social commentary offered up by the dialogue. Although, please don't ask me what point that commentary is making.

I'm not sure why this film was selected as a special 'Members' Reward' screening for the London Film Festival, as it is very, very American -- probably much funnier for those familiar with the culture represented. As it was, the buzz among the audience after the end of the show was not enthusiastic.

For my own part, I'm afraid comedies of social embarrassment make me acutely uncomfortable, and I dislike even more situations in which pretentious, arrogant, ignorant people make fools of themselves by exposing themselves in public: the argument where one girl insists that Xavier must be spelt with a 'zee' (and then her queen-bee friend overrides her with an even more pretentiously ignorant explanation) is a prime example of what really raised my hackles in this film. It's just not the sort of thing I like at all; I don't think there's a sympathetic character left by the end, and meanwhile we're supposed to be spending our time laughing at these cliques and freaks sneering at each other. I prefer my films more sweet-natured than this.

Because I was cringing so much I felt that the picture also went on far too long; views of those who were enjoying it may vary.