Girl Most Likely
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| Girl Most Likely | |
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Original poster
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| Directed by | Shari Springer Berman Robert Pulcini |
| Produced by | Mark Amin Alix Madigan Celine Rattray Trudie Styler |
| Written by | Michelle Morgan |
| Starring | Kristen Wiig Annette Bening Matt Dillon Darren Criss Christopher Fitzgerald Natasha Lyonne |
| Music by | Rob Simonsen |
| Cinematography | Steve Yedlin |
| Edited by | Robert Pulcini |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate Roadside Attractions |
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Release dates
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Running time
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104 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,378,591 (North America)[2] |
Girl Most Likely is a 2012 American comedy film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Based on a screenplay by Michelle Morgan, the film stars Kristen Wiig as a playwright who stages a suicide in an attempt to win back her ex, only to wind up in the custody of her gambling-addict mother, played by Annette Bening. Matt Dillon, Christopher Fitzgerald, Natasha Lyonne, and Darren Criss co-star.
The film was screened under its original title Imogene at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012. The same month, Lionsgate bought the US distribution rights following its Toronto premiere and released it with Roadside Attractions on July 19, 2013.[3]
Contents
Plot
Imogene (Kristen Wiig) is a struggling playwright, working a low-paying job at a magazine in New York City. After her affluent boyfriend leaves her and she is fired, she stages a suicide attempt in an effort to get her ex's attention and is accidentally discovered by her friend Dara. Held in the hospital on a 5150 (involuntary psychiatric hold), she is eventually released into her estranged mother's (Annette Bening) care where she is taken to her childhood home in New Jersey.
Shortly after returning she hears a conversation between her mother and her new boyfriend, George Bousche, and learns that her father never died, but instead left the family to pursue a PhD. After learning that her father wrote a book, she goes to the local library and steals it. She discovers from the back cover that he lives in New York City and convinces her mother's boarder, Lee (Darren Criss), to take her there, but is forced to return after she is barred access from her apartment and her friend, Dara, refuses to let her stay in her home.
To pay Lee back for driving her to the city, Imogene goes to see him perform in his Backstreet Boys tribute band. Afterwards they talk about Imogene's failed career as a playwright. Years ago, after she won a prestigious grant, Imogene failed to write an actual play and now believes she cannot write. Lee accidentally discovered her old plays while living in her room and believes she is talented and should attempt to write again. They sleep together and the following morning she, Lee and her brother, Ralph, head back to the city to go to Dara's book launch party.
The launch goes poorly as no one is particularly happy to see her. Her brother Ralph is nearly arrested and is brought to the party by the police. After they leave the party, Ralph takes them to their father's house where Ralph reveals that he knew his father was alive the entire time. Imogene and Ralph have dinner with their wealthy father and his new wife where he expresses no regret over his decision to leave them. After their father offers Imogene money to help fix her life she leaves him and returns home to her mother. After Imogene and her mother discuss her father an assassin arrives looking for Bousche and threatens to kill the family. He is prevented from doing so by Imogene, who dons her brother's human exo-skeleton suit and attacks him.
Ultimately Imogene writes a play based on her experiences called Exo-life starring Julia Stiles, which receives a standing ovation.
Cast
- Kristen Wiig as Imogene
- Sydney Lucas as Young Imogene
- Julia Stiles as Stage Imogene
- Annette Bening as Zelda
- Matt Dillon as 'George Bousch'
- Darren Criss as Lee
- Christopher Fitzgerald as Ralph
- Natasha Lyonne as Allyson
- June Diane Raphael as Dara
- Michelle Hurd as Libby
- Nathan Corddry as Larry
- Mickey Sumner as Hannah
- Brian Petsos as Peter
- Ronald Guttman as Armando
- Nicole Patrick as Monica
- Reed Birney as Dr. Chalmers
- Murray Bartlett as James Whitney
- Bob Balaban as Imogene's father
- Andrea Martin as Stage Zelda
Reception
Upon its festival release, Girl Most Likely garnered generally negative reviews from critics. Christopher Schobert from film blog The Playlist called the film "a big-screen sitcom, elevated by Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening".[4] He wrote that Wiig's "likability oozes from every scene in Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's occasionally winning, a touch too sitcom-y, but often very funny look at one woman’s offbeat family and her attempts at discovering just what went wrong on the road to success. It is not, to be sure, Bridesmaids-style humor, and never reaches that blockbuster’s belly laugh count. But the film doesn't lack for moments of inspired comedy, and I expect it to find an audience."[4]
Deborah Young, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, also felt that "the film’s great strength is its intuitive casting. The actors interact so well that it’s hard to single out one performance, though it’s perhaps Bening who wins the day for the sexy humanity she gives to the former go-go dancer Zelda. Morgan’s screenplay is full of intelligent dialogue that got real laughs from the audience on its Toronto bow."[5] In his review, Justin Chang from Variety felt that "an able cast, led by Kristen Wiig’s prickly lead turn, saves this uneven, excessively quirky but ultimately ingratiating story [...] Offering another sly snapshot of the filmmakers' native New York, a la The Nanny Diaries and The Extra Man this soft-bellied crowdpleaser should post modest numbers in specialty play and DVD/VOD rotation.[6]
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 20% rating based on 85 reviews with the site's consensus: "Largely witless and disappointingly dull, Girl Most Likely strands the gifted Kristen Wiig in a blandly hollow foray into scattershot sitcom territory."[7]
References
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