Mistress
America is a 2015 comedy-drama directed by Noah Baumbach. It stars
Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke. It is about the friendship between two soon-to-be
stepsisters, one who is a sheltered college freshman (Kirke), and the other an
older charismatic party girl (Gerwig). I haven’t liked Noah Baumbach's movies
(both Kicking and Screaming for its
pretentiousness and Margot and the
Wedding for its depressing mood), but I thought a comedy would be different,
and it wasn't.
Tracy (Kirke) is beginning her freshman
year at Barnard in NYC, and is having a hard time adjusting to living away from
home (New Jersey) for the first time, as well as making new friends. She has
awkward fumblings with her classmates during group discussions; submits her
story to the school literary society and scampers away like a scared kid when
spotted dropping her story in the submission box (only to be later rejected as
a candidate); begins a charming and blossoming relationship with a classmate(Shear),
but is disappointed when he begins dating someone else; and eats alone at
lunch, putting both a slice of pizza and a bowl of cereal on her tray, and
avoiding sweets in order to fit in with her elite peers.
To combat her loneliness, she takes her
mother’s advice and calls her soon-to-be stepsister Brooke (Gerwig) (after
scrolling through a list of contacts on her iPhone with a broken screen), who
is 31 and lives in the city. Brooke is a whirlwind of big-city chicness, a bon
vivant Holly Golightly type who lives in a studio space in Times Square, sings
in a band, hobknobs at parties, teaches spinning classes, and speaks of her romantic
visions of what NYC should be, all while frequently talking about herself in
one breath and captivating the starry-eyed Tracy, who takes notes and writes a
story entitled “Mistress America,” starring a carefree and glamorous heroine
based on Brooke.
Brooke was an obnoxious character to
watch. Gerwig delivered a good performance, but she didn’t have the charm to
pull off this selfish and bubble-headed bon vivant. Her character constantly
talked at a busy pace that was irritating, like she wouldn't take a breath and
let others speak, and she was grossly narcissistic and immature, especially in
her 30s, which was pathetic. Although there is a revealing moment where Brooke
shows emotional vulnerability while talking to her dad on the phone, it is a
brief moment before she returns to her exasperating self.
In addition, there is an awkward and
uncomfortable scene where Brooke is confronted in a bar by a former high school
classmate who had been bullied by Brooke, and to see Brooke frequently
dismissing the former classmate by innocently claiming she didn’t know her and
insulting her for still being upset about this bullying was maddening to watch,
as Brooke seemed entirely selfish to the point of not having empathy for anyone
else and living inside of her own self-made bubble to protect herself from
hurt.
Lola Kirke’s performance as
Tracy was one of the most realistic in the film, and it was wonderful to see
her character gain confidence in herself throughout the film and slowly realize
that she is much smarter and much more together than anyone else in the room. Kirke
previously excelled in playing a small but memorable role in Gone Girl as a thief, and was virtually
unrecognizable in this film. So that is a testament to her versatile acting ability that she
succeeded at playing both a college freshman seeing Brooke’s world through
rose-colored eyes and a street-smart Louisiana thief who figures out Amy’s
deceptive personality much more quickly than others. Tracy was a very identifiable
character for anyone who has been a college freshman, for when she was feeling
lost at school and trying to navigate the social scene and missing home, those
were some of the most honest parts of the film.
The story escalates when Brooke, who
dreams of opening a restaurant that is a trendy neighborhood hangout called Mom’s
(“So that people can say, ‘Let’s go have dinner at ‘Mom’s’”), goes to Greenwich,
CT to take care of unfinished business, namely to confront her former friend
and her husband over a money dispute, and along with Brooke comes Tracy and her
classroom crush and his insanely jealous girlfriend (Jasmine Cephas Jones), who
arrive at the house, and the screwball comedy antics begins. People are coming
in and out of rooms, doing callbacks to earlier lines, there are
misunderstandings, and old issues from the past are dredged up. The sequence is
an obvious attempt at screwball comedy, but the execution felt rushed and hammy,
as if the characters knew what kind of movie they were in. It felt very fake
and predictable, and got old and tiring to watch very quickly, especially since
very few of the characters were interesting or had depth to them.
However, an enjoyable highlight of the
film was the soundtrack by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips. It sounded like
authentic 80's synth-pop, but it was original music composed by them, and it
added a special quality to the film, like romantic and happy and excitement
over new adventures.
The film has mixed qualities. Baumbach
has an eye for talented actors, comedic one-liners, and self-aware depictions
of urban and upscale creative types. But the attempt at screwball comedy by
both him and Gerwig came across as heavy-handed and obvious, and did not flow
as naturally as it did in the films that they said was their inspiration, After Hours and Something Wild. The film is just under 90 minutes, but the premise
and characters wear out their welcome within the first hour, and it gets
tedious to watch from then on.
