Review of Shopgirl (2005) by Sarah C — 19 Feb 2010

"...the story felt shallow and full of holes, and the performances were all a bit on the dull side.".

Between Claire Danes, Jason Schwartzman and Steve Martin, I figured there would be a good performance in this movie somewhere. Instead, the story felt shallow and full of holes, and the performances were all a bit on the dull side.

As a woman who was formerly part of the LA dating scene, I get Mirabelle. I know what it's like to feel awkward and out of place when you're not "somebody" in a town where everyone is REQUIRED to be somebody to be considered worthwhile. I've gone out with guys like Jeremy out of loneliness and regretted it later. I've had older men attempt to buy their way into my heart. When Ray tells Mirabelle that it is easier for him to buy her things than to show her love, I understood exactly what he meant.

However, identifying with the characters and enjoying the movie itself are two different things. The writing failed to sink into the depths of any of the characters enough to make me care about them. Jeremy seemed like he was supposed to provide a bit of comic relief in an unexpectedly stoic movie, but I don't recall laughing at anything he did, I just felt sorry for him. This also goes for the makeup counter girl who attempted to seduce Jeremy when she thought he was Ray. The inclusion of this girl at ALL seemed out of place to me. It was as if there were 2 different movies going on: The one with the attempt at comedy staring Jason Schwartzman and blonde bimbo, and the more serious one struggling to represent the difficulty of making a true connection in LA with Martin and Danes.

In the end, I was left feeling like this movie was trying too hard to be artsy rather than to be relevant. I would say maybe that was the point - that it was attempting to convey an idea of the perils of love in a jaded city rather than a true character representation. But, even if that's the case, I still don't feel it worked. If it had worked, I would be sitting here contemplating the deeper meaning in its imagery rather than how much it missed any kind of positive mark for me.