Shopgirl
Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:23 pm
Erin and I watched this last night, and were pretty disappointed. We both usually like Jason Schwarzman, Claire Danes can be good, and Steve Martin can still occasionally not suck completely these days. When I heard about this, though, I thought it was kinda creepy that he was adapting his own story about an older guy and a younger girl then casting himself as the older guy, -and- directing it. I think consequently it degenerated into a Steve Martin wank-fest. He wasn't that great as Ray. The direction wasn't that great. In particular I thought all the dark "gritty" interior shots looked like crap. And for some reason he changed his own story pretty significantly, although it's been quite a few years since I read the novella so maybe I'm just not remembering it correctly. In the movie the characters seemed a lot more desparate, and less sympathetic, and the events seem more arbitrary. Also, what was with the 3-4 voiceovers of Steve Martin reading his own book in an overly weighty tone? I'm sorry Steve but your novella was not that amazing to begin with. Anyway, not even seeing Claire's bum could make this that enjoyable for me. C- (Novella: B)