Now famous actress Izzy gives an interview about how she ended up this way: she was a call girl, hired by theatre director Albertson who invited her for dinner. They landed in bed and he then persuaded her to quit the job and do what she wants. Izzy decided she wanted to be an actress and went to audition for a play about a call girl, directed precisely by Albertson. Izzy quitting her job upset a judge, who then went to see psychotherapist Jane. Albertson did not want to cast Izzy, among others because he is married, but the playwright Joshua and actor Seth insisted she had to play the part. The play was a hit and Izzy became a famous actress.
After a 13 year pause, director Peter Bogdanovich returned with this film, yet his inspired touch from the 70s did not return with him, as well. "She's Funny That Way" is intended as a modern homage to classic screwball comedies of the 30s, except that it is strangely without energy, inspiration or wit of the latter. There are only two good jokes in the film: in the first, Izzy, the call girl who auditions for a play about a call girl, gives a smashing audition, and reads the text to her friend, about how she has "bad", "very bad" and "very, very bad news" (that she is a call girl; that she accidentally became pregnant; and that she is pregnant with the boyfriend of her best friend); the other is when Albertson and a woman argue while traveling in a taxi, but then the cab driver just suddenly stops the car and walks away. Sadly, there is little else to see in the story. It is hectic, tries a lot of crazy subplots, yet none of them manage to ignite or engage. Not even the random cameo by Quentin Tarantino at the end manages to lift it up a notch. Ironically, despite the fact that her role is so underwritten and scarce, the leading actress Imogene Poots is unexpectedly excellent, as if she manages to fake charm even during many scenes of empty walk, saving the film. An interesting footnote is Bogdanovich's shout to Lubitsch's "Cluny Brown" through the "Squirrels to the Nuts" line.
Grade:+
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