Eleni

(2013-05-16 15:40:01)

Lola Versus Bad Ratings

A 4.6 rating average? Why? What was so bad about this movie? I read theother reviews to see whether there was something I missed... Nope. Someof the other reviewers don't even have the characters' names straight.And I concluded that most of them didn't get the movie at all. Isincerely hope they didn't get it because they've never been throughanything similar. So I decided to write a review of my own, and praisethis highly underrated movie.Lola is at a high-point in her life. She lives in New York City, she isworking on her PhD thesis, and she is about to marry her dreamy-lookingboyfriend of years. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.When the above-mentioned boyfriend gets cold feet and dumps her,everything comes crumbling down. She cries, comfort-eats, sleeps on thefloor and goes to school looking like a zombie. She employs her twobest friends, Alice and Henry, to help her get out of this funk. Thingsget complicated in the process though, mostly due to her feelingconfused and ambivalent... Enter the classic coming-of-age, findingyourself stuff, the "choosing to be alive" as Lola phrases it.Sprinkled with some hilarious spot-on bits of dialogue, usually fromAlice (Zoe Lister Jones), the friend who's there mainly for thecomic-relief, and does excellent in it I might add.I have to agree here with some of the negative critique. Yes, it isdifficult to feel sorry for Lola when she lives in a beautiful New Yorkapartment, walks around in cute little skirts and high heels lookinggorgeous, continues to look gorgeous despite all the comfort-eating,and sleeps with three different guys in the course of an 87 min movie.True that. However, the emotional turmoil, obsessive thinking, failingto accept reality, and all those feelings that follow a heartbreak werethere, mindfully portrayed. Greta Gerwig was an ideal choice for thepart, since she evokes this next-door-girl quality that makes it easyfor the audience to sympathize and identify with her. I also found herlittle flaws of the "wholesome" diet and the cleansing potion thermossuper funny! At parts of the movie I could guess what the next line was going to be,and not because it was predictable; because it was genuine and it feltreal.

daniel_buehler

(2013-05-16 11:04:48)

I don't understand why this film was made.

I can't complain about the camera work or the acting. While I didn'tparticularly enjoy them, nothing really struck me as bad in thosedepartments.The characters premise seemed to be one of emotional immaturity(whether prevalent or circumstantial), and with that in mind at leastall behaved in understandable manners. The problem is: I don't quite get why this was made into a movie. Itwas a pain to watch all the self-destructive behavior (most of it onthe main characters side). It's a film about the usual average dramathat happens in real life and no mitigating qualities to it. I tried tocome up with reasons why anyone would want to see this movie, I couldnot come up with a reason.

gregeichelberger

(2013-05-16 07:03:55)

Too smug for it's own good

I suppose you need to be in a New York state of mind to enjoy "LolaVersus," but, Phillistine that I am, I just could not pull it off. Ialso know exactly what many of the smug, self-styled intellectualreviewers are going to write and say about this film. That it's smart,quirky, snappy, gritty, real and funny.Don't believe any of that.Once again, I know I will be in the minority opinion, but to thisscribbler, it's nothing but a series of unrelated sentences that seeksto substitute for a coherent script; a junk drawer full of supposedlywry and witty bon mots desperately in search of a plot, written bysomeone with Attention Deficit Disorder. It seemingly wants to be as clever as "Juno," but does not want to workfor it. Of course, it's handicapped because it has neither theintelligence, charm or talent featured in that film. In fact, it's noteven a low-rent "500 Days Of Summer," the next picture on the"Will-I-ever-find-true-love-again" bandwagon."Lola Versus" is the follow-up to "Breaking Upwards" fromwriter/director team Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, where thefilmmakers attempted to use conventional romcom figures of speech tojump-start conversations that ultimately went nowhere. This goes twiceas much for Wein's latest release.He isn't given much to work with, however. In "Lola," we get actorssuch as Greta Gerwig ("No Strings Attached"), Joel Kinnaman ("SafeHouse," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), Hamish Linklater("Battleship"), Lister-Jones ("The Other Guys," "Salt") and EbonMoss-Bachrach ("The Lake House," Higher Ground").Oh sure, we also see veteran Bill Pullman (whose last significant workwas "Rio Sex Comedy") and Academy Award-nominated (for "An Officer anda Gentleman" and "Terms of Endearment") actress, Debra Winger; both arewasted, though, as a terminally high father and nagging mother,respectively.Here, Gerwig plays the eponymous character, who lives in New York andhas one of those New York lives that exist only in movies like this.She lives in a perfect, rent-controlled apartment and is engaged touber stud, Luke (Kinnaman). It seems to be a match made in Heaven,until a chronic case of cold feet causes him to dump her three weeksbefore the wedding.This can happen. I personally know of a situation similar, but no oneis going to put THAT story up on the big screen. Lola takes it hard -very hard. She sleeps for what seems like months (only waking to eat afew potato chips and wallow in self-pity, much like the audience).Later, her friend, Alice (Jones), tries to console her by taking her tosingles bars and getting her plastered at private parties.Lola pays her back by sleeping with Alice's on-again, off-againboyfriend, Henry (Linklater), who plays in the world's lamest band.Their relationship begins with an innocent sleep-but-don't-touch thing,but soon devolves into a full-blown affair.And, since Gerwig's character is a 29-year old New Yorker, she isshallow, annoying, promiscuous and completely self-absorbed. She's alsoa pothead and an alcoholic, to boot. Plus, not since Kristin Wiig'sembarrassing "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" breakdown in"Bridesmaids," do we get a female that goes Hollywood mental at justthe wrong time (just because she sees Nick talking to another girl).All of this while trying to get her life back on track. However, shefalls back into her old habits by cheating on her rebound guy with NickOyster (Moss-Bachrach), a well-endowed fish salesman (get it?). Lolahas sex with him, then complains because he's bothers her, which iscertainly the pot calling the kettle black here.Finally, Nick, seeing the error of his ways comes back into her life,and, of course, Lola forgives him and - gasp - has sex with him (hownovel, a male character she sleeps with). In fact, she has baseless,passionless, meaningless intercourse so many times, it frankly becomesas irritating as Gerwig's empty, one-note performance.It's also very hard to feel sorry for someone who constantly blubbersbecause she cannot find love, yet has a perfect face and body, a fullsupport group and seemingly beds every man in the Bronx. We all haveour troubles and few tears are going to be wasted on her situation.Lister-Jones, who is equally bothersome most of the time, although abit less self-centered as Lola, is probably the best thing about thismovie (and that is certainly not saying very much). It's sad though,that while she steals every scene she's in, it's all petty larceny inthe end. None of the other characters even approach empathy, chemistryor believability.All the while, the writing tandem attempts a viewer connection byname-dropping such entities as Facebook, match.com and Yelp!, but theypoil everything by practically waving their hands about frantically andshouting, "Hey! We're smarter than all of you! This movie is what life,love and finally growing up is really all about!" As previously written, don't believe that for a minute.

jane

(2013-05-15 11:46:10)

Lovely Drama / comedy

I almost didn't watch this movie based on the low IMDb score, but Ifound it to be a lovely film. Most of the comedy is generational - sosome people might not get it. The story seems true to the complicationsof modern romantic entanglements and the two main actresses are great.I found the movie much more enjoyable than most of the big budget filmsthat are out there. I really would consider this more of a drama than a comedy, although ithas some comical moments. It's not going to be well liked if you'relooking for a romantic comedy. It has some great moments of revelationand is more about soul searching than your typical Hollywood fluff.This is a very nice movie with a nice blend of drama and comedy.

Neuenschwander9

(2013-05-14 15:08:00)

Embarrassing Rip-Off

There ought to be a rating for disasters such as this to keep peoplefrom watching, period. The director and all persons involved in thisneed to be horse whipped for creating this "gem". Just another paycheckfor all the male and female prostitues employed. Avoid like a cyst withmolars.Not exactly what I expected. I had visions of a CG "Heavy Metal", butit's more like a continuous "Rock Video" (Instrumental). Trippy, andpsychodelic, but probably more enjoyable when your mind is in analtered state. No story line, no plot...This is, without a doubt, theworst movie in the history of movies. Seriously. It's not funny, scary,or remotely entertaining. How on earth did it make it to the MPAA?

Rubens Junior

(2013-05-13 19:39:35)

No need to run, Lola

I may understand why Lola Versus is being so underrated, because it'san atypical romantic comedy. A simple, subtle and sometimes naive onewhen showing a character struggling to repair herself after a traumaticbreakup 3 weeks before her wedding with the man she planned to buildher entire life with.So it's completely normal go thru hard times after a situation likethat, and always find ourselves in between moments of euphoria anddistress, typical symptoms of the dysthymia suffered by any one afterthe end of a relationship. Her friends, Alice (Zoe Lister Jones) andHenry (Hammish Linklater), will do anything to support her and showother perspectives about the new situation, but every single help seemsnot enough and will be going thru all the pain that she will finallyget self redemption.After the subtlety of (500) Days Of Summer (2009), people rediscoveredwhat a good romantic comedy means. Lola Versus does not have the samewarm appeal or a character that arouses so much compassion like MarcWebb's movie, but it follows the same style when showing humansuffering in its purest way, and also the mistakes and flaws attachedwhen overcoming a great disappointment in life. We all had Lola's daysand have already been versus the world too at least once in our lives,and this movie couldn't be any more sincere when simply showing allthose mixed feelings when you have been caught by surprise like shehas. It's easy fall for sympathy for the character and all her anxiety,anguish, confusion and that constant heart pain that is neverphysically felt but is there somewhere.It's an uncommon movie and completely different from what we usuallysee, that's why it may seems uninspired or out of the line, but onlywho knows what it takes to get the pieces together may understand allthe process Lola is going thru, her recovering, her back and forth, andgriefs drowned into alcohol and meaningless sex.A motivating, heartwarming and inspiring movie that develops itselftogether with the character's step by step progress, with an amazingsoundtrack, great dialogs and charismatic characters that areunintentionally funny. For sure is not a movie that will make peopletalk a lot about or fully understand it at first, but certainly afaithful reproduction of the inner pain, confusion and how people canbe so foolish wasting energy trying to repair something that only timeheals.Better appreciated by those who someday were against the world too andexactly know how Lola feels.

rawvibes

(2013-05-08 15:39:14)

FRIENDS Rachel Green ewwwww

Don't try to wrap your brain around this movie you'll get a headache.Just know it's a pinch of THE OC, 90210 and Friends. Lola the creatureof habit is about to find out that she needs to go out and create a newpuzzle of life that she can add pieces too. The new generation nowadaysits like passing around there ex's like a 5 foot subway sandwich witheveryone getting a taste. I would say this would be for 18 to 30 femalebracket. Guys would see the movie with their girl but it's not one guysare going to jump at. Lola makes a mistake in the beginning to try andmake sense of here life and trying to make the best out of the piecesshe has in making a puzzle.

wilson trivino

(2013-05-07 18:28:11)

Lola finding her groove

Lola (Greta Gerwig) is on top of the world, she is half way through herdissertation on "Silence in 19th Century French Literature" andrecently engaged with her hot beau Luke (Joel Kinnaman) on her twentyninth birthday. Like most often is true in life, if things are too goodto be true they usually are and she the swept into a down spin spiralas her plans don't quite turn out like she had planned in her fairytale life. This witty, cute, and sensitive tale takes in the odyssey ofone woman as she presses forward as she lives her turbulent twentiesinto her confident thirties where she can take charge and realizes thatshe can be still be a sex kitten with the confidences of a tamedlioness. Directed by Daryl Welin and opens on June 15, Lola Versus is afun adventure. by Dr. Wilson Trivino

Chris_Pandolfi

(2013-05-05 16:33:45)

The Alternative Rock Romcom

If traditional Hollywood romantic comedies are like pop rock, then"Lola Versus" is the equivalent to alternative. Although it has thesame basic sensibilities and is generally just as implausible as moremainstream fare, it explores its characters and themes in a quirkier,less soppy way. In terms of plot, we can make out the basic trajectory,but there are times when it deviates from the path, specifically whenit comes to the satisfying but not necessarily happy ending. It's arefreshing approach and a welcome change of pace. All the same, I mustadmit that I personally prefer more Hollywood-style romcoms, simplybecause they usually work harder at getting the audience to feel good,if only for about an hour and a half. Yes, there are those of us thatare perfectly content with pop.Taking place in New York City, the film depicts one year in the life ofa literature grad student named Lola (Greta Gerwig), beginning on hertwenty-ninth birthday with a voice-over narration and a dream sequencein which personal effects such as shoes, handbags, and vibrators washup by the hundreds on a beach. When she awakens, her longtimeboyfriend, an artist named Luke (Joel Kinnaman), proposes to her. Then,only weeks before the wedding, he calls off the engagement. Aheartbroken and hopelessly confused Lola moves into her old apartment,which, in a cruel twist of fate, was being rented by a young woman whohas just gotten engaged. Lola turns to her best friend, a fringetheater actress named Alice (Zoe Lister-Jones, also the co-writer andone of the executive producers), for advice and support. She also hasto content with her well-meaning but misguided parents (Debra Wingerand Bull Pullman). Her father still adheres to free love ideals thatwent out of fashion forty years ago.Lola will eventually cross a line with her other friend, a singer namedHenry (Hamish Linklater), a complication made worse by the fact thathe's also Luke's friend. Twice, she tries dating a man named Nick (EbonMoss-Bachrach), who is essentially this film's answer to traditionalcomedy relief. Consider this line of dialogue, delivered as he and Lolasip wine in his obviously pretentious apartment: "I never set out to bea prison architect. It just happened that way." As Lola desperatelytries to make sense of herself now that she's single, she's repeatedlyapproached by Luke, who it seems does want to work things out with her.She will, of course, surrender in a weak moment and have sex with him,but that doesn't necessarily mean she's ready to take him back.Meanwhile, Alice, in her own loveably neurotic way, laments about beingthe only single woman in New York. At the same time, she doesn't wantto advance on someone like Henry, given the fact that he and Lola knoweach other too well.Reading this plot description, you may feel as if you know exactlywhere the film will go. To an extent, you'd be right; aspects of "LolaVersus" are cut from the same cloth as a traditional romantic comedy.But don't be lulled into a false sense of security. The filmmakersavoided many of the conventions audiences are conditioned to expect,which is good because that means certain elements may actually surpriseyou. I think the key difference between this film and yourrun-of-the-mill romcom is that the latter is typically founded onlittle more than the fantasy of falling in love with the ideal partner;"Lola Versus" is really more of a character study and isn't asinterested in the mechanics of a contrived romance. It's about thetitle character's journey towards self-discovery.One thing the filmmakers do right is tone down on personalityabsolutes. Unlike a Hollywood romcom, where the characters aredeveloped according to broad generalizations, "Lola Versus" paints inshades of gray and uses smaller strokes. When I described Luke earlier,I'll bet you came to the conclusion that he was a jerk and that Lolawould be better off without him. But it isn't that clear cut. There areno perfect characters in this movie. They all make mistakes. On thesame token, they all have redeeming qualities. Luke may be annoyingunclear about what he wants, and he certainly could have handled thesituation with Lola in a much better way, but he really isn't a badguy.I also appreciated the way in which the filmmakers depict New York.Rather than bombard us with photogenic shots of landmarks and skylineswe're all very familiar with, they instead opt for smaller, moreintimate locations in less well known sections of the city. This isn'ta travelogue; the setting is secondary to the human story at its core.That this particular story happens to revolve around the amusing upsand downs of relationship doesn't make that much of a difference. "LolaVersus" is a charming film, one that may not provide general audienceswith everything they've come to expect from a romantic comedy but stillgets the job done nicely. Despite my personal preferences, even I knowthat it's good to try out an alternative approach every once in awhile.-- Chris Pandolfi (www.atatheaternearyou.net)

Mitch_Rockwell

(2013-05-05 08:33:02)

Hopelessly uninspired.

Lola Versus opens in a fashion similar to many of your conventionalrom-com of the weeks, as Greta Gerwig's titular character is proposedto by her handsome and charming boyfriend, played by The Killing's JoelKinnaman in a nice bit of broadening his appeal. Before the cut to thetitle card though, it shows some promise in diversifying itself byhaving this dream montage of wedding preparation bliss come shatteringdown as Kinnaman's Luke informs her that he can't go through with it.Strangely, this turns Lola Versus into a whole new kind of conventionalcomedy -- the "indie" single girl in the city movie, as Lola suffersthrough the typical post break-up blues and makes many a mistake on herroad towards ultimate self-realization.I'm not sure when this new genre became so popular that it was loadedwith its own clichГѓВ©s but it certainly is at this point, as there isn'ta single moment in Lola Versus that doesn't feel recycled from a dozenother films of a similar vein. Her parents (Bill Pullman and DebraWinger, their poor careers) are supportive and make somewhatinappropriate remarks, her best friend (Zoe Lister Jones) is a superquirky and "outrageous" ultimate single girl who is desperate to findsomeone to sleep with her (seriously, this might be the worst characterof the year) and her male best friend (Hamish Linklater) just happensto have long-running feelings for her. Gee, I wonder if that will leadto anything. Lola Versus runs from one half-baked sequence to the next,building towards its inevitable conclusion that maybe she shouldn'thave spent the past year of her life trying as hard as possible to findsomeone (anyone) to love her and make her feel good.Anyone with half a brain knows this already though, so the film doesn'tgive the audience any kind of reflective quality or anything inparticular to enjoy while watching. The "comedy" is overbearing, mostlyuncomfortable (not in the good way) and far too rehearsed and any kindof resonance that can be gained from this character is voided by theredundancy of it all. I think Greta Gerwig is a very capable actressand I'm getting incredibly frustrated by seeing her taking on roles inso many disappointing films that fall into the same kind of market-typethat she finds herself here. She really should be doing much betterwork, and now my hope is put firmly into her upcoming Noah Baumbachfeature.Completely uninspired writing and direction from Daryl Wein leads toLola Versus feeling as though someone saw it crumpled in the garbage,dusted it off and thought they'd try to trick people into wasting theirtime with it. It's a wonder that something like this was made whenwatching it seems like no one cared at all. With the 90-minute runningtime, you're much better off watching three episodes of Lena Dunham'sGirls instead. This follows similar waves but can't remotely measure upin terms of comedy or poignancy.

gregeichelberger

(2013-05-02 23:13:26)

Too smug for it's own good

I suppose you need to be in a New York state of mind to enjoy "LolaVersus," but, Phillistine that I am, I just could not pull it off. Ialso know exactly what many of the smug, self-styled intellectualreviewers are going to write and say about this film. That it's smart,quirky, snappy, gritty, real and funny.Don't believe any of that.Once again, I know I will be in the minority opinion, but to thisscribbler, it's nothing but a series of unrelated sentences that seeksto substitute for a coherent script; a junk drawer full of supposedlywry and witty bon mots desperately in search of a plot, written bysomeone with Attention Deficit Disorder. It seemingly wants to be as clever as "Juno," but does not want to workfor it. Of course, it's handicapped because it has neither theintelligence, charm or talent featured in that film. In fact, it's noteven a low-rent "500 Days Of Summer," the next picture on the"Will-I-ever-find-true-love-again" bandwagon."Lola Versus" is the follow-up to "Breaking Upwards" fromwriter/director team Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones, where thefilmmakers attempted to use conventional romcom figures of speech tojump-start conversations that ultimately went nowhere. This goes twiceas much for Wein's latest release.He isn't given much to work with, however. In "Lola," we get actorssuch as Greta Gerwig ("No Strings Attached"), Joel Kinnaman ("SafeHouse," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), Hamish Linklater("Battleship"), Lister-Jones ("The Other Guys," "Salt") and EbonMoss-Bachrach ("The Lake House," Higher Ground").Oh sure, we also see veteran Bill Pullman (whose last significant workwas "Rio Sex Comedy") and Academy Award-nominated (for "An Officer anda Gentleman" and "Terms of Endearment") actress, Debra Winger; both arewasted, though, as a terminally high father and nagging mother,respectively.Here, Gerwig plays the eponymous character, who lives in New York andhas one of those New York lives that exist only in movies like this.She lives in a perfect, rent-controlled apartment and is engaged touber stud, Luke (Kinnaman). It seems to be a match made in Heaven,until a chronic case of cold feet causes him to dump her three weeksbefore the wedding.This can happen. I personally know of a situation similar, but no oneis going to put THAT story up on the big screen. Lola takes it hard -very hard. She sleeps for what seems like months (only waking to eat afew potato chips and wallow in self-pity, much like the audience).Later, her friend, Alice (Jones), tries to console her by taking her tosingles bars and getting her plastered at private parties.Lola pays her back by sleeping with Alice's on-again, off-againboyfriend, Henry (Linklater), who plays in the world's lamest band.Their relationship begins with an innocent sleep-but-don't-touch thing,but soon devolves into a full-blown affair.And, since Gerwig's character is a 29-year old New Yorker, she isshallow, annoying, promiscuous and completely self-absorbed. She's alsoa pothead and an alcoholic, to boot. Plus, not since Kristin Wiig'sembarrassing "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" breakdown in"Bridesmaids," do we get a female that goes Hollywood mental at justthe wrong time (just because she sees Nick talking to another girl).All of this while trying to get her life back on track. However, shefalls back into her old habits by cheating on her rebound guy with NickOyster (Moss-Bachrach), a well-endowed fish salesman (get it?). Lolahas sex with him, then complains because he's bothers her, which iscertainly the pot calling the kettle black here.Finally, Nick, seeing the error of his ways comes back into her life,and, of course, Lola forgives him and - gasp - has sex with him (hownovel, a male character she sleeps with). In fact, she has baseless,passionless, meaningless intercourse so many times, it frankly becomesas irritating as Gerwig's empty, one-note performance.It's also very hard to feel sorry for someone who constantly blubbersbecause she cannot find love, yet has a perfect face and body, a fullsupport group and seemingly beds every man in the Bronx. We all haveour troubles and few tears are going to be wasted on her situation.Lister-Jones, who is equally bothersome most of the time, although abit less self-centered as Lola, is probably the best thing about thismovie (and that is certainly not saying very much). It's sad though,that while she steals every scene she's in, it's all petty larceny inthe end. None of the other characters even approach empathy, chemistryor believability.All the while, the writing tandem attempts a viewer connection byname-dropping such entities as Facebook, match.com and Yelp!, but theyspoil everything by practically waving their hands about franticallyand shouting, "Hey! We're smarter than all of you! This movie is whatlife, love and finally growing up is really all about!" As previously written, don't believe that for a minute.

John DeSando

(2013-05-02 20:01:34)

Breaking up is hard to do.

"I learned everything I know about being a woman from 90210." Lola(Greta Gerwig)To watch Greta Gerwig play the eponymous Lola dealing with thecancellation of her wedding 3 weeks before the event by her cold-footedboyfriend, Luke (Joel Kinneman), is to watch a young, alreadyaccomplished actress deftly play a doctoral student navigating theemotional potholes of breaking up.Gerwig is worth the watching while the rest of the film meanders in andout of almost-unconnected episodes with some wit and some clichés. Sheis so convincingly lost among the ruins of her life that she isbelievable even when the setups are not. Indeed, it's Gerwig whopropels the film, not the uneven scrip of director Daryl Wein and hiscollaborator, Zoe Lister-Jones.The film is punctuated by make-up, casual, and silly sex as she findsher way out of depression. To help her is the usual rom-com girlfriend,Alice (Lister-Jones), whose wisecracking ("I gotta go wash my Vagina")helps add comic relief to Lola's melancholic life.Amid Lola's experimentation with her ex's best friend, Henry (HamishLinklater), and a pickup, Nick (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), at a fish storeare random thoughts about finding the right love or going back to theold love. It's a rather tedious conflict that could be rehashed fromsome soap and not reflective of HBO's gritty "Girls," if I hear rightabout the TV sitcom.It's not that Lola Versus is unreal; on the contrary it is an authentictake on the vagaries of breaking up. However, with as few witty linesand imaginative encounters, it doesn't elevate the argument or provideinsight into the anguish and remedies that usually accompany a study ofthis universal experience.I would much rather have explored the interesting lives of Lola's looseparents (Lenny and Robin, played by Bill Pullman and Debra Winger) orthe challenges of her dissertation on silence in novels. Maybe that'swhat Lola Versus needs—silence.