In a World… is not really your typical romantic comedy. It’s not even your typical female-led comedy. Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) is the daughter of one of the kings of the 1980s/1990s movie trailer voice overs, appropriately named Sam Sotto (played by VO legend Fred Melamed), and she wants nothing more than to follow in his footsteps. But, in the words of her father, “the world does not crave a female sound,” and Carol is mostly forced into being a vocal coach for actresses who don’t know how to do a British accent.
This alone sets it apart from most other films — the lead doesn’t have your typical “rom com job,” like a lawyer or writer or interior designer (which you never really see her do in the film itself), but instead wants to be part of an industry that I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a movie about before. And it’s really a rather perfect one for comedy, since it sets up a lot of jokes about the medium itself and plus, you know, gives the actors the opportunity to do a lot of funny voices.
One of the best parts of this movie are the movies and commercials that Carol winds up doing voice over work on, in particular the YA quadrilogy The Amazon Games, a perfect send up of every bestselling kid’s book-turned-film monstrosity that has been released over the last few years– and the one movie trailer every voice over artist in town wants to book. At their best, these moments remind me of the recently departed 30 Rock, which I love and miss greatly.
Written and directed by Bell herself, who has been rather quietly working in the comedy world over the past few years (in shows like Children’s Hospital and HBO’s How to Make It in America), you can tell the movie is written by someone who loves what she does, and loves making people laugh. The movie also wears its feminist heart on its sleeve (not always to its credit, especially towards the end when the feminist message becomes a little too pat), and subverts many typical comedy narratives for women. Bell’s Manic Panic-ed, Angela Chase wardrobed Carol is totally the female version of every slacker bro character ever, but with an ambition (and lack of a drug problem) that most of these characters lack. She’s a little bit tomboyish, a little bit of a mess, but it never feels like a caricature.
It’s not even really fair to categorize this movie as a romantic comedy. Ultimately it’s about making it as a woman in a male-dominated field, and Carol and her father learning how to be a family and not rivals. It’s also about women being there for other women.
Bell managed to snag a pretty impressive ensemble — The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry as her brother in law, Party Down’s Ken Marino as the current king of voice over and Carol’s rival, Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman, Demetri Martin, and even Tig Notaro. Martin plays the requisite coworker with a crush on the heroine, and his and Bell’s chemistry is genuine enough that it makes their scenes together a delight to watch. If there’s one place In a World… falls down though, it’s that Bell felt she had to give every member of the ensemble their own story line, not always connected to main plot, and so there are a few scenes here and there that felt a little unnecessary. But overall, it’s a solid, fun, summer comedy that’s well worth your money, especially if you’re looking for something female driven and a little bit different from everything else out there.
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Megan Patterson is a freelance writer and the Science and Technology Editor at feminist geekery site Paper Droids. She also tweets more than is healthy or wise.
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