Whit Stillman
Damsels In Distress

THE REVIEW

This film partly offers an interesting satire of the American university world, while the rest is a somewhat ridiculous and fantastic comedy, where we find a group of friends led by Greta Gerwig in the role of Viola, a girl with some very peculiar, if not completely crazy, maxims; and it is she who sets the tone of the film itself, which appears increasingly detached from reality as the minutes pass in a surely ironic way.

She and her three friends wander uncertainly through the various fraternities, which seem more like Greek temples in appearance, but in reality hide foolish, smelly, and egotistical students whom our heroines will try in vain to assist in various ways: setting up a suicide prevention center, as “prevention is 90% of the cure, for suicides it's 100%”; distributing soap bars, and even diving into romantic relationships to bring forth their latent potential.

In summary, a film to laugh at, reminiscent a little of “Mean Girls,” with talented actresses – Gerwig is also a writer and director elsewhere – and featuring Adam Brody from O.C.; all complemented with surreal dialogues; libidinous cathartic characters to be redeemed and the proverbial abandonment issues that will also afflict the protagonist, at times cool but also very nerdy, especially when dealing with dance and the intention of creating a dance craze.