Review of In a World... (2013) by Phil P — 17 Sep 2013

If you don't know about Lake Bell now's the time to start. She's a comic marvel, often the best thing about lame movies and hilarious tv (see Adult Swim's Children's Hospital). Bell makes a terrific debut as writer and director of In A World.

.., a rush of comic smarts and heart. The film deals with dysfunctional family life, sex and female empowerment, all dealt with in the rough-and-tumble world of voiceovers. We all remember the movie trailers that feature the male voice (it was Don LaFontaine until his passing in 2008) who says 'In a world.

..'. Bell is Carol Solomon, a struggling vocal coach in Hollywood (she's seen teaching Eva Longoria a cockney accent) who is itching to break in the male-dominated world of trailer voiceovers. Her egomaniac father Sam (Fred Melamed, hilarious), who is in the voiceover business himself, and amazing at it, and whose house she lives in, isn't keen on her invading his territory.

With the aid of Louis (Demetri Martin), a sound engineer harboring a crush on her, Carol gets her chance by voicing carnal come-ons for a Hunger Games-type quadrilogy called The Amazon Games. The men in the business can't stand her.

Bell's script, which deservedly took home a writing award at Sundance, includes a subplot about Carol's older sister Dani (the great Michaela Watkins) and her boyfriend Moe (Rob Corddry) that only seems random and irrelevant.

As writer, director, producer and star, Bell skillfully springs surprises upon us, making us laugh while also pulling out the rug in us at a moment's notice. She makes the world Carol inhabits a microcosm for the lives of every working woman in the world.

And she does it with bracing subtlety and freshness. Bell is a filmmaker to watch out for. I can't wait to see more.