Review of Mistress America (2015) by Hugo G — 18 Nov 2015

I was very much looking forward to Mistress America. After Frances Ha and While We're Young (the latter also from this year), and the continued collaboration of Baumbach and Gerwig, my expectations were super high, too high, in fact.

Gerwig creates another memorable character. Mistress America is supposedly a comedy, one in which I didn't find funny. That's probably the core of the disappointment stemming from the movie. Sure, it has a few witty lines worthy of Woody Allen (and is certainly a spiritual influence), but I found the movie (especially the 2nd half) very uneven in tone and pacing.

Heather Lind and Michael Chernus work well as a floundering married couple, and as I already mentioned Gerwig is good as usual in her role, but it's the main character Tracy played by Lola Kirke that works the least and just sort of fades in the background.

I'm not sure if it's the actor or if the part is underwritten. I hope Mistress America is the type of movie that gets better with a 2nd viewing.