Gerwig & Gerwig

Over the summer two indie comedies starring Greta Gerwig were released, Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress and Daryl Wein's Lola Versus. I wanted to see both films, but sometimes I am far too lazy to actually go to the movie theater--and I love movies! Anyway, they are both on DVD, and so I sent them to the top of my Netflix queue and watched both of them this past week. 

I wanted to like the stylized Damsels in Distress so much, and based on the trailer, I thought I would. Gerwig stars as Violet (not her real name), the leader of her own little college clique who runs the campus's suicide prevention center, dates fraternity (Roman letter not Greek) "doofi," and wants to start an international dance craze. It's all just too-too. She sees herself as some kind of know-it-all golden girl rescuing the less fortunate until she herself is dumped by her boyfriend and succumbs to depression. "I don't really like the word 'depressed.' I prefer to say that I'm in a tail-spin." I never bought any of the characters, I couldn't get a handle on Violet at all, and the dialogue was arch and stilted--that's the kind of whimsy, off-kilter movie this is--but it didn't really work for me. That said, I've never seen any other Whit Stillman films, so I'm going to try out Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco. Side note: Megalyn Echikunwoke as Violet's friend Rose, was probably my favorite character. She spent two weeks in London and now speaks in a British accent all the time and believes most, if not all, men are "rat, playboy operators."

If Violet was unbelievable, Greta Gerwig was a convincing delight as Lola, a 29-year-old New York grad student whose fiance leaves her shortly before their wedding. Over the next year she struggles with her ex, sex, friends, school, and herself. If Stillman's film is all arch irony, Wein's film is all awkward naturalism. The plot is overly familiar (at least it had one! kind of), but I laughed throughout. I have never seen the HBO series Girls (sadly), but Lola Versus is a lot like what I imagine Girls to be. Many complain that the characters, especially Lola, are narcissistic, grating, and self-involved, but I think Gerwig keeps Lola endearing, and I often enjoy "unpleasant," self-absorbed characters. 

But what the hell do I know? Damsels has a 76% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes while Lola is rotten at 34%. Either way Greta Gerwig is a quirky actress and I hope big things are in store for her.