Bill C’s Review – 3 out of 5
Damsels In Distress is reminiscent of movies like Clueless, Heathers, and Mean Girls in that they all focus on female cliques in school but that is where any similarities end. This is a quirky, silly comedy about a group of girls at a fictional northeastern college. Led by Violet (Greta Gerwig), the girls try to improve life on campus and rid it of depression. The comedy comes from the quirky and absurd dialogue and the fact that the girls seem to be leftovers from another era (maybe the 50s or 60s). Their solution to depression is dancing (Tap and the-hoped for new dance craze ‘ Sambola’) and good-smelling soap. But the girls run into issues with the men on campus and Violet needs to deal with her own issues. Like the movie, the performances are a little on the quirky side as well, but the leads, Greta, Carrie Maclemore, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Analeigh Tipton are all entertaining.
This film is written and directed by Whit Stillman, his first movie since 1998’s The Last Days of Disco, and he makes a decent return to directing. This movie could have been about 10 minutes shorter and seemed a little rough around the edges, but overall I enjoyed it and am ready to dance the Sambola! If you like weird/quirky, consider seeing this. Otherwise, you should pass.
I went to a talk by Whit Stillman a couple of weeks ago, and enjoyed his style, self-deprecating and funny. I asked him how much of a factor the marketing of a film had on his creation of it, and clearly while he wants it to sell, that’s not the main thing on his mind.