Review of Adult World (2014) by Martin G — 07 Mar 2014

At the age of 22, a college graduate, Amy (Emma Roberts) still lives at home supported financially, and in her dreams, by her parents. We meet Amy, who sees herself as a poet on the verge of fame, trying to commit suicide, practicing putting her head in the oven as her heroine Sylvia Path did and the film takes us back a year earlier to explain how she got to this point.

With her college loans plus their parents taking a hit they tell her she has to get a job. After several interviews that don't work out she finds herself getting a job as a clerk in Adult World owned by an old couple John Cullman and Cloris Leachman and managed by a cute curly-head Alex (Evan Peters) and where a transgender person Rubia (Armando Riesco) who has Amy move in with her for a short time.

Amy's 'favorite living poet', as she tells him, is having a reading and she goes to him, hoping to be his protégé. Rat Billings (John Cusack) had a taste of fame and is now, more or less, a has-been. He has no plans to be Amy's mentor no matter what she tries, and does, to get in his good graces, including getting very drunk (an embarrassing scene) and coming on to him. Aside from the fact that she is a very bad poet Amy doesn't really have much else going for her, except maybe, the fact hat she is a virgin.

Anyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy knows exactly where this is heading and the director Scott Coffey, along with screenwriter Andy Cochran, really add nothing to the film that hasn't been said or done before.

The cast, pleasant to watch, does what they can do with what they are given but I don't see any of them putting this film high on their resume.