Listen Up Philip

Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is a self-obsessed writer angry at everyone and everything. His new book is getting bad reviews. His girlfriend Ashley Kane (Elisabeth Moss) is tired of his antics. She finds companionship with her sister Holly (Jess Weixler) and a cat. Philip finds a new mentor in writer Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce) and he has a vacation home away from the city. Ike's daughter Melanie (Krysten Ritter) sees right through him.

Philip is a horribly tiresome character. It becomes a matter of how much of this annoying character one can truly take. I wouldn't call him an interesting ugly character either. He's simply an angry little selfish man. The Zimmermans aren't much better. Ashley is a much more compelling character. I'm really glad when the movie switches over to her story. Elisabeth Moss really hits it out of the park. If only this movie is about Ashley but it is not. It is sadly about Philip.

I will leave serious examination to others but Elisabeth Moss gives a solo 10 second masterclass in reaction and emotion half way through the movie which makes the film worthwhile. It would be very interesting to know more about the making of the scene, though I guess years of practice plus an abundance of talent plays a part.

Apparently I need to write 10 lines to qualify as a review - The movie is a longer version of the trailer - This is often enough information for most people in a review.

I wonder if the writer / director deliberately cast Moss along side 2 ex-models as the three leading female characters, but more to fill space in the review than anything.

A bizarre movie. A young writer's (Philip) second book is about to be published. He is abrupt, ill mannered, impolite, unpredictable from beginning to end. At the beginning of the movie he rebukes his ex girl friend just because she came late to their appointment, saying he was planning to give this copy to her, but now he is not giving it, and he is living. Later he stops planned promotion of his upcoming book like out of blue sky. Then he leaves his girl friend to get mentoring from an old, famous writer. The guy is just super ego centric, behaving jerky, irritating the viewer from beginning to end. And Jason Schwartzman just fits to this role so naturally.

But funny thing is that this character has its charm also; particularly to women. He gets attraction at first, goes into relation. and then he destroys his credits in the relation without caring.

Can one live like that? Why would/should one like to live like that? What does he want? does he hate to be politicly correct? or just does not want to be a hypocrite? These are the questions stroked my mind after the movie.

One other striking thing in the movie was the superb performance of women characters. From Philip's girl friend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss) to Emily (Dree Hemingway - I would love to see Dree Hemingway in main roles. There is something so teasing with her). They were hyper modern day's real, casual, lovely women.

Pretty good first half, really suffered in the second half. Its structure could've been really effective, but it's just jarring and, quite honestly, bored me as it went on. The ensemble is the biggest reason to see it. Schwartzman is good, Jonathan Pryce is pretty good even if his segment is definitely where my interest waned. And then there's the easy highlight of it all.

My love for Elisabeth Moss has never been a secret. She's already given an all-time great performance in Mad Men, somehow managing to steal the show from Hamm at her best moments. Earlier this year she had The One I Love, a great film with a fantastic performance from her, and so I happily singed her praises. And now I can sing them again, to an even higher degree. Her character is easily the most interesting, although how much that had to do with Moss remains to be seen. Regardless, it's a shame she's not the main character throughout. She's able to really tap into so many facets of Ashley with pitch-perfect line deliveries and emotional expressions. She's a fantastic silent actress, and she's able to convey just about everything that the role requires with so little. Many actresses could've done well in the role, but we might not have even known how much the role really required. Moss is absolutely spectacular, definitely one of the finest performance of the year so far. For her it's worth it.

A comedy about a young writer who, upon the publication of his second novel, increasingly alienates himself from his girlfriend and other friends through his arrogant behaviour. He turns for 'intellectual' and 'authorial' support to an ageing author he respects who is as obnoxious as he is.

The humour is meant to come from mocking these unappealing characters but the film itself isn't particularly appealing either. As a satire on the possible pretensions of the publishing world it suffers from lack of originality, an excess of cynicism and contrived delivery.

The overblown irony of the voice-over further ensures this comedy isn't that funny despite a few amusing lines. What presumably intends to be a comedy about annoying people end up being annoying itself.