Lola Versus

LOLA VERSUS (dir. Daryl Wein) The film sets out to expand the parameters of Romantic Comedy by taking a typical gambit (almost a cliché) and gently bruising it a bit. Lola's dreamy life in NYC comes to an abrupt halt when she's dumped by her fiancé. Not in a relationship, and creeping up on thirty...Oh, the horror! Now things get complicated, and she might fall for her best male friend, or even get some emotional help from her hippie parents. The jokes are barbed, and Lola makes some ill suited choices not usually covered in the genre, yet she's got oodles more pluck than the standard sugarcoated heroine. Greta Gerwig is enchanting in the lead role, and her delightful comedic mannerisms and facial expressions are perfect for this wry comedy. This film is a splendid choice if you're looking for something more than the run-of-the-mill lighthearted (empty-headed?) Rom Com.

Lola (Greta Gerwig) is on top of the world, she is half way through her dissertation on "Silence in 19th Century French Literature" and recently engaged with her hot beau Luke (Joel Kinnaman) on her twenty ninth birthday. Like most often is true in life, if things are too good to be true they usually are and she the swept into a down spin spiral as her plans don't quite turn out like she had planned in her fairy tale life. This witty, cute, and sensitive tale takes in the odyssey of one woman as she presses forward as she lives her turbulent twenties into her confident thirties where she can take charge and realizes that she can be still be a sex kitten with the confidences of a tamed lioness. Directed by Daryl Welin and opens on June 15, Lola Versus is a fun adventure. by Dr. Wilson Trivino

At it's core, this is almost as entertaining as a Romantic Comedy should be. But, the setting for this story about a narcissistic, big-city, gen-Y girl seemed 'off'. I can imagine that girls in many places around the world get a sense of dread for that approaching 3-oh, but it's just not true for women, especially in many urban areas, where serious romance, and courting happens not only before 30, but after. I just can't imagine a girl living in a socially sophisticated place like New York City with a sense of foreboding that age is a limiting factor to finding the one she really should be with. The story also meandered a bit, as it tried to develop a clear direction, but while it was scattered, it finally found a direction at the end.

Lola (Greta Gerwig) is 29 years-old and happily engaged to Luke (Joel Kinnaman). But 3 weeks before their big day, Luke cancels. Lola is left with the wreckage of her relationship and must struggle to find happiness. Zoe Lister Jones stars as the best friend.

Director Daryl Wein co-writes this with long-time writing partner Zoe Lister-Jones. This is another 20-something sophisticated girl who can't get her act together. She's a smart girl who is acting stupid. Zoe has some funny lines. Greta is playing her stock character. I like the actors, but it's too bad that there isn't anything new.

I may understand why Lola Versus is being so underrated, because it's an atypical romantic comedy. A simple, subtle and sometimes naive one when showing a character struggling to repair herself after a traumatic breakup 3 weeks before her wedding with the man she planned to build her entire life with.

So it's completely normal go thru hard times after a situation like that, and always find ourselves in between moments of euphoria and distress, typical symptoms of the dysthymia suffered by any one after the end of a relationship. Her friends, Alice (Zoe Lister Jones) and Henry (Hammish Linklater), will do anything to support her and show other perspectives about the new situation, but every single help seems not enough and will be going thru all the pain that she will finally get self redemption.

After the subtlety of (500) Days Of Summer (2009), people rediscovered what a good romantic comedy means. Lola Versus does not have the same warm appeal or a character that arouses so much compassion like Marc Webb's movie, but it follows the same style when showing human suffering in its purest way, and also the mistakes and flaws attached when overcoming a great disappointment in life. We all had Lola's days and have already been versus the world too at least once in our lives, and this movie couldn't be any more sincere when simply showing all those mixed feelings when you have been caught by surprise like she has. It's easy fall for sympathy for the character and all her anxiety, anguish, confusion and that constant heart pain that is never physically felt but is there somewhere.

It's an uncommon movie and completely different from what we usually see, that's why it may seems uninspired or out of the line, but only who knows what it takes to get the pieces together may understand all the process Lola is going thru, her recovering, her back and forth, and griefs drowned into alcohol and meaningless sex.

A motivating, heartwarming and inspiring movie that develops itself together with the character's step by step progress, with an amazing soundtrack, great dialogs and charismatic characters that are unintentionally funny. For sure is not a movie that will make people talk a lot about or fully understand it at first, but certainly a faithful reproduction of the inner pain, confusion and how people can be so foolish wasting energy trying to repair something that only time heals.

Better appreciated by those who someday were against the world too and exactly know how Lola feels.