Mistress America (2015)

Aspiring writer Tracy isn’t really getting into the groove of her freshman year at Barnard. At her mother’s urging, she decides to call up the soon-to-be stepsister she’s never met who’s at least a decade older and living in the city. Brooke is a whirlwind of activity and non-stop chatter. She’s a legend in her own mind with mile-a-minute ideas that never really go beyond that idea stage.

I had a really hard time connecting to this movie despite the fact that I was interested in the set-up. Tracy is boring as hell, but also a pushy presence in the story. Also: she's just not a great actress. The dialogue often gets into that rat-a-tat rhythm of ‘40s comedies: that "you-talk-I-talk-you-again" stagey pattern that doesn’t feel real. No one’s talking over each other but no one’s listening to each other and it’s basically taking turns quipping. Mostly this movie just somehow made me kind of sad. There didn’t seem to be much going on beneath the surface of any of these characters.

C