Lola Versus

Already feeling old on her 29th birthday, a perky PhD student who ponders over keeping things exactly as they are but believes that change is inevitable prophesizes that her life will soon be turned upside down. It of course is when her longtime artist boyfriend pops the question, but then her world is shattered when he ends their relationship just weeks before the big date. Now, she has to adjust, or rather evolve (with great difficulty) to living the life of a single woman in the big city as she prepares to enter her thirties; needless to say that the results are quite messy. The characters may be believable but are mostly unappealing, the script is jumbled with awkward lines resulting in ham-fisted attempts at humor, and the frequent emotional outbursts feel forced and out of place. While the setup may be real and relatable there isn't much insight or poignancy to go along with it, and even though Gerwig is somewhat of a bright light, many of the actors aren't really given their due. **

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 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) has a hard time finding her place in the world. So does the film. What starts out as a romantic comedy-styled drama, turns into a sex comedy, and then tries to find its way as a character study. But the character of Lola will turn off some before the film gets going and bore others who have already solved her life's problems.

It has taken me a long time to warm up to Gerwig but she's surprisingly cute and likable here despite how narcissistic, self-destructive, self-involved, and sullen Lola can be. The opening of the film sees Lola in love, Lola getting engaged, and then Lola getting dumped just three weeks before the wedding.

Cancelling a wedding to a man you were in love with after everything is paid for, would be torture to go through. But Lola didn't have to do that. Lola's mother (Debra Winger) cancelled the wedding for her while she cried in bed. Lola's mother and father (Bill Pullman) were likely the highlights of the film as I did laugh at the majority of their lines.

The writing isn't bad. As the film ventures into sex comedy territory, the writers were going for bold, catchy lines. I disagree with the point of being quotable just for the sake of being quotable, and there are way too many examples of that in this film, but some are funny and some will likely resonate with the target audience.

The target audience is not the 29-to-30 year-olds who are trying to find their place in this world. "Lola Versus" is meant for the mid-twenty-somethings who watch the HBO series "Girls" in between their meaningless, hate-filled sexual flings and their self-loathing obsessions about not having a career. For the majority of the film, that is what Lola and her friends are like. Lola describes herself as a "slutty but good person". Her best friend Alice is even worse who makes jokes about oxycodone giving her orgasms.

Her ex-fiancé, her best friend-turned-boyfriend and her potential suitor were decent characters played by decent actors. Joel Kinnaman as the ex-fiancé Luke wasn't given much to do, which is a good thing for the film, as otherwise we probably would have sided with him instead of Lola.

Lola came to some decent, if unimpressive, observations by the end of the film, that it probably would have served them better if "Lola Versus" was meant as a character study all along. But as is you have to suffer through a lot of moaning which most young heroines are too smart for.