Written and Directed by Lake Bell
*1/2 (one and a half stars)
With all due respect to Lake Bell, I feel compelled to be especially harsh on this one.
Dear readers, when I first saw the trailer for "In A World...," the debut filmmaking feature from Actress Lake Bell (who also stars), about a young woman's pursuit to gain a coveted foothold in the male dominated movie trailer voice-over industry, I just knew that I would be first in line if the film happened to make its way to my city. Through strong critical praise and surprisingly positive box office receipts in a initial release of only three theaters (!), "In A World..." has garnered a national release which did indeed find its way to my city. As promised to myself, I made sure that I was right there for its opening weekend as I felt that a good Hollywood satire had been long overdue and one that came from a fresh female perspective at that would just make the experience that much more unique. Well...consider my voluminous disappointment when the end credits began to scroll as "In A World...," despite its strong first and final thirds and the fact that Lake Bell is indeed a creative talent to keep your eyes out for, the film as a whole failed to keep its eyes on the prize in a spectacular way, making what could have been a one-of-a-kind film to celebrate and treasure something that was sadly formulaic, tepid and uninspired.
"In A World..." stars Lake Bell as Carol Solomon, a 30-year-old vocal coach to the stars, and one who possesses a special talent for mimicking accents of varying foreign dialects, who is desperately attempting to become a contender in the voice-over industry. making her ascent even more difficult is the fast that she is the daughter of the legendary Sam Soto (a brilliantly unctuous Fred Melamed), a voice-over giant, second only to the real world voice-over king Don LaFontaine, who coined the movie trailer introductory phrase "In a world...," a phrase that was retired after his passing. With the prospect of a potential mega-budgeted "quadrilogy" being readied for massive release, the "In a world..." phrase is looking to be resurrected for the film's trailer but who will at last have the chance to utter those iconic words? Will it be Sam Soto, looking to claim his long sought after brass ring despite the fact that he is about to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award? Or will it be the sleazy voice-over playboy (and Sam Soto's protege) Gustav Warner (Ken Marino), who unwittingly finds himself in a tryst with the one who will soon be his greatest competition...Carol Solomon!!
There is much to enjoy and celebrate about "In A World.." as Lake Bell proves herself to be a sharply observant comedic writer as she skewers the sexism within the voice-over industry while also providing the seeds for what could have been a equally sharp examination of a Father/daughter relationship as the Father in question cannot see beyond his own needs and the daughter is desperately trying to escape his looming shadow to blaze her own path. Add to that mix, Bell's very perceptive take on the seductive mystery, allure and power of the human voice, from a love of language and dialects to the actual sound. And then, Bell includes her most comedically scathing thoughts with the brutally satirical attack she places against a society of women in the 21st century who are seemingly determined to have speaking voices that sound like high-pitched, pseudo-sexual squeaks that ultimately diminishes women ever being taken seriously within any industry whatsoever.
As an actress, Lake Bell is undeniably charming throughout. Through her extremely quick wit, tenacious attitude, undeniable smarts as well as her uncharacteristic attractiveness, she makes Carol Solomon a character that you root for. As a filmmaker, Bell surprised me as her script is filled with clever, well-written dialogue that sets up the conceit and conflict of the film's storyline quickly and cleanly. As a director, Bell moves her film along with a swift, energetic pace that provides plenty of zing to the comic energy on display. and she elicits top notch performances from the film's entire cast.
What forced me to bring down this film so negatively was that by the film's mid-section, "In A World..." abandons its primary conceit of the voice-over industry, and therefore its entire purpose so completely and for so long that the film is astoundingly undone by a bad case of cinematic laryngitis. It is as if Lake Bell had forgotten what her film is even about and when it does regain its footing in the otherwise strong final third, the effect is so anti-climactic that nothing matters anymore.
"In A World..." is a film that advertises itself, and therefore should be, a Hollywood satire. What the film actually becomes is a romantic comedy and frankly, not a very good one as every contrived moment feels as authentic as an episode of "Three's Company"...you know, the one about the misunderstanding? You see, "In A World..." features our heroine not only unwittingly having a tryst with one of her main voice-over competitors but she is also having a sweet natured and nervous flirtatious dance with shy audio engineer Louis (played by Demitri Martin who often resembled Jason Schwartzman to me). We also have the story of Carol Solomon's frustration with her Father's new relationship with the 30-year-old Jamie (Alexandra Holden), she of the "non-ironic Midwestern accent," and then, there's a massively intrusive subplot starring Carol's sister and hotel concierge Dani (Michaela Watkins) and her marital woes with her husband Moe (a criminally underused Rob Corddry) when she has an extra-marital romantic dalliance with an Irish hotel guest.
Now look, I certainly do not believe that all films should just stick to their main subject matter rigidly. but I do believe that once you establish the film's core, everything else should function as satellites to that core. In regards to satirical films about Hollywood, past personal favorites like Writer/Director Christopher Guest's "The Big Picture" (1989) and Writer/Director Tom DiCillo's wonderful "Living In Oblivion" (1995) both injected romance into the proceedings without ever losing their main focus. Furthermore, the terrifically dark film "Swimming With Sharks" (1994) from Writer/Director George Huang, sadistic office politics and elements of the thriller were added to the satire. I have no issue whatsoever with Lake Bell desiring to have romantic comedy elements in her film but instead of satellites, Bell makes the romantic comedy became the whole movie and when there were much better fish to fry, I just didn't care about whether Carol and Louis would get together or especially if Dani and Moe would figure out their marriage. It was all so superfluous and disastrously torpid to sit through.
Additionally, I would say that an even bigger flaw was easily one of the most obvious. For a film that proposes to be about this young woman's life and times in the voice-over industry, we rarely ever see her working within that industry. Yes, at the film's start we get to have some really terrific comedy from her coaching vocal sessions with Eva Longoria who is overdubbing a cockney accent for her latest film. But I really think that to truly capture the industry ascent and the full hopes and dreams of Carol Solomon's journey, and to furthermore strengthen her rooting interest, is to actually watch her in that recording booth doing those voice-overs for the very products and films that are then giving her the desired attention she craves in such a male dominated field. But, almost none of that is to be seen during "In A World..." and that flaw was crucially glaring and let precious air out of the cinematic balloon lake Bell is obviously trying to blow up.
Look dear readers, Lake Bell has proven to me that she has some serious creative talent and in the male dominated world of Hollywood itself, we desperately need more creative voices like hers contributing to the art and entertainment that we all have the chance to view. I look forward to her second film with eagerness, do not get me wrong. But "In A World..." had the potential to be great and it just made me so crazy that Bell squandered everything new, inventive, risky and fresh away for the tried, true and overly familiar. If I were to offer Lake Bell any advice (as I am just certain she is just waiting with bated breath for me to deliver), it would be to remain steadfast and fearless next time, to swing for the fences and be as trailblazing as her own leading character.
Because when you have that chance to step up to the cinematic plate, why swing for anything less?
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