Search - Shopgirl on DVD

Flawed, but worth a watch...

Angela D. Mitchell | Hobbiton | 12/21/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm such a fan of all the people associated with this, and even though it disappointed me, I think it's worth seeing. For me,it's one of those lovely flawed little movies you catch at 3 a.m., thinking, "hmm, not bad... could've been even more..."

It's a good movie, overall. A solid "worth seeing." Claire Danes is lovely and luminous and just wonderful. Martin is OK as the suitor. Schwartzman is pretty much terrible despite almost saving things in the last 10 minutes. I did actually like the irony of Martin as narrator -- hey, the guy is detached, it's his defining quality, so I loved his "narrating" events as we saw them with an ironic sensitivity the character himself was lacking.

On the negative side, I have to say that I felt that Steve Martin (while his book was a slight, lovely treasure) may have not been exactly the right choice for the film's Ray. He is so aloof it's hard to gauge his feelings from afar, much less for poor clueless Mirabelle. He's like an icecube. Yet I still bought the relationship and liked his character (he's very interesting and bizarrely realistic).

But speaking of realism (or not)... My main problem with the film is with Schwartzman's character, who is not just "clueless," he is basically autistic or was raised by wolves or monkeys or something. The guy is gross, unkempt, cannot even go on a decent date with Mirabelle without embarrassing or mooching off her. He's a skit unto himself. He's embarrassingly crass and seems to have no idea of the beauty or coolness of Mirabelle in any way. A few rock self-help tapes later are supposed to transform him into a prince, but I don't buy it for a second. Even in the best of times with Mirabelle, I simply hoped that this guy had learned enough to shower.

I liked Martin's novella, and love his other work (and adored "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" and "The Pleasure of my Company"). But my problem wasn't with Ray... we see his hollowness, his loneliness (affecting because he has no idea it exists), etc., throughout. I loved the scenes where he cared for Mirabelle beyond sex, the ways we saw he loved her without being able to articulate it.

But for Schwartzman's gross stupid comedy relief guy to have any chance at being the prince, the movie needed a major rewrite.

Worth seeing but prepare for an overly-intrusive score, and for a somewhat detached and slow (if often lovely) movie experience."

Lonely and looking for love in Los Angeles...

M. J Leonard | Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States | 04/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Shop Girl is such an "LA" film. Not only is it set in Los Angeles, but the film also evokes the city's very unique sensibility. Based on Steve Martin's best-selling novella, Shop Girl is all about big city isolation and loneliness and looking for love in all the wrong places. Working from a script by Martin, director Anand Tucker has made a quiet, delicate and nuanced film, featuring some fine performances from its three very appealing leads.

Claire Danes plays Mirabelle, a beautiful, dreamy and messed-up artistic young woman who sells gloves for evening wear at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and lives in a quaint apartment in the suburb of Silver Lake (just down the street from where we live!).

Lately, Mirabelle has been having a hard time of it - her student loans have been piling up, and she's been suffering from bouts of depression; it's as though she's been spending all her time in Los Angeles just waiting for something to happen, her situation endemic of the routine isolation experienced by women who drive to and from their solitary apartments, perhaps hoping someone eventually will offer them love.

One night at the local launderette she meets the emotionally immature and unkempt Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman). Jeremy is your typical Silver Lake urban grunge, who earns his living decorating amplifiers for rock bands and lives like a pig. He's far too unsophisticated for the lovely Mirabelle, yet they are both artists and the same age so a connection gradually develops.

However, it is the older and far wealthier Ray Porter (Steve Martin) that really beguiles Mirabelle. Ray takes an instant liking to her when he purchases a pair of gloves. Ray is so much more appealing. A dot-com millionaire with mansions in L.A. and Seattle, a private jet and enough money to make a girl feel like Cinderella every night, he's made Mirabelle the envy of all the other girls at Saks Fifth Avenue, especially vamp Lisa (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras). Ray steadily showers Mirabelle with gifts whilst, making it perfectly clear that this is a casual relationship.

The stage is set for a love triangle, with the sensitive and easily hurt Mirabelle, facing some harsh decisions about who to love. Obviously, Jeremy is not right for Mirabelle the way he is; he's ambitionless and cheap, and a bit of a dummy. Only through reinventing himself will Jeremy ever have any hope of obtaining Mirabelle's love. Ray may be rich, but he's also rather cold, and insensitive to Mirabelle's feelings - most importantly he remains non-committal.

But are Jeremy and Ray really that different? Mirabelle must learn to make love the basis, and assess how well each man gives it as well as receive it. She's an intelligent, perceptive and intuitive girl, who knows what she's getting into, but she finds herself getting caught up in a situation that she's just not able to emotionally handle.

Whilst the plot is a bit lightweight and feathery, the movie is mostly buoyed by the performances of Danes, Schwartzman and Martin - who is very good at playing against his comedic type. Danes beautifully captures the affecting, fragile inner quality of Mirabelle's life. It's a brilliantly understated performance that never resorts to histrionics or mawkishness. She gives her heart even when it is broken but never pleads for our sympathy.

Martin plays Ray Porter with a calm coldness and he's obviously a successful businessman who seems to have sufficient funds to do whatever he wants. But he's also lonely and bored and somewhat shut down emotionally; Ray knows Mirabelle's isolated. He's able to spend money on her, but never in ways that feel tawdry and you never get the feeling that he's just being a "sugar daddy" - there's real love and affection there.

And then there's the marvelous Jason Schwartzman as Jeremy. He's a sweet and kind young man, but he has no idea how to seduce a woman and it is only by going on a kind of spiritual road trip that he can learn how to elevate himself to Mirabelle's stature. The film does have it's faults - the soundtrack is a little heavy-handed, and Tucker lays the sentiment and pathos on when he doesn't really need to, but the movie is always compelling and we get to the see the lovely Claire Danes shimmer vintage dresses and high heel shoes, she also drives a pick-up truck and puts on glasses.

For local viewers, Shop Girl provides some great scenes set in and around the funky Silver Lake and there are also the dreamy and poetic views of the City of Angels to admire. Cinematographer Peter Suschitzky infuses his camera work with a deep sense of longing, as though Mirabelle's tale is just one of the many stories beneath the swaying palms and roaring expressways of people who just want to be loved. Mike Leonard April 06.
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