Review of For a Good Time, Call... (2012) by Spencer S — 20 Dec 2012

A woman invested film, Call... never tries to take itself too seriously, but comes up short in appealing to women exclusively or to men at all. It's definitely frothy and a fun watch for anyone who has the dirty caliber of mind to be okay watching two girls spew forth some of the most filthy dialogue seen onscreen in years.

Both characters are rather gleefully filthy, spouting their diatribes about men, looking good, finding love, and the world of the phone sex operator. Though the subject matter itself is terse, and the one thing going for this film is depicting women as filth mongers with hearts of gold, it's not exactly off-putting or comes off as cheap.

The characters themselves are actually quite genuine throughout most of the film: Lauren Anne Miller comes off as a genuinely uptight, repressed, and yet marginally adventurous woman, embarrassed by what her parents think of her ambitions, and subordinate in relationships.

Ari Graynor will definitely be one of the funniest female comedic actors of our time and has already made her mark in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" as a drunken hooligan, and recently in "Celeste and Jesse Forever" as a concerned best friend.

Graynor is great at portraying strong, funny, enigmatic women, and here she is not happy with staying complicit. Kudos also goes to Justin Long, who is always salacious as gay characters, James Wolk as a douche ex-boyfriend, and Mark Webber as a client who becomes more.

The film is fairly sleazy, recycling dirty talk again and again, getting more and more degrading. There are some seriously funny moments, but the friendship between the two of them is far from realistic.

Their platonic love for one another, fighting and making up, and the plot twist surrounding Graynor's character was simply unrealistic and ridiculous. That relationship is far from genuine, and for all the lively talk about sex and other bombastic activities, there isn't any real heart to this because the characters fall flat.

A good chick flick, but not a great one.