Hollywood, when you come right down to it, is a very silly place. Sure, it’s a dream factory, and a place where imagination takes flight, blah blah blah… but at its heart, it is a very, very silly place. Which is why as absurd as the conceit of In A World sounds, it’s completely plausible by the standards of Hollywood logic.
There’s a lot to like about In A World, starting with the premise, a look into the lives of voice over actors. It’s an aspect of Hollywood most people never think about, and it’s nice to see a Hollywood movie that’s about something other than actors, producers or idealistic screenwriters trampled under the feet of the cruel, callous system. Another thing to like about the movie (and it’s kind of a bummer that I even have to point this out as a unique thing) is that it’s written, directed by, and starring a woman, Lake Bell.
Now, like most people, I was mainly familiar with Lake Bell from her work as oceanographer Laura Daugherty in the short lived NBC drama about sea creatures, Surface. But besides being a talented dramatic actress, she has also proven her comedy chops with scene stealing turns in No Strings Attached and New Girl, as well as her regular role on the Adult Swim series Children’s Hospital. And now she’s parlayed her success into a role behind the camera, where she proves to have a light touch and a way with performance.
Firstly, she gives herself the lead role Hollywood lacks the imagination to give her, and knocks it out of the park. She’s sweet, funny, incredibly charming, but not flawless. She doesn’t let ego or vanity get in the way of telling a good story. Past that, she gives great roles to a murderer’s row of comedic talent, who are equally pigeonholed by Hollywood. Better yet, she allows them to be funny, but also human. I want to give a special shout-out here to Bell’s Children’s Hospital co-star Rob Corddry, who really shines in the role of Bell’s brother-in-law. Usually he’s resigned to playing creeps and weirdos, but he’s fantastically charming and sweet as a perfectly normal friend and husband.
That’s the thing here: nobody in the film is a one dimensional stereotype. Everybody has layers, everybody gets to be more than just one thing, and nobody is beyond redemption. In fact, that’s the thing that appealed to me most about the film. There’s just this overwhelming generosity of spirit and kindness. The go-to setting for most movies about Hollywood is cynicism. Everyone is a shark, and it’s a ruthless, dog eat dog world where nice guys finish last. But besides exploring an aspect of filmmaking that rarely gets any play, In A World goes to the trouble of putting into practice that old chestnut about ‘everyone having their reasons’. There are no villains here. Some dick moves are pulled, sure, but it avoids the clichéd versions of how people would act and react in these situations and adds some extremely welcome nuance.
I don’t mean to go on and on about it, but until I saw the movie, I hadn’t realized how increasingly rare it is to see that sort of thing in a comedy. Modern comedy tends towards the vulgar and crude. It certainly doesn’t ask you to empathize with the antagonists. It was just all-around nice to see one that wasn’t quite as mean-spirited as everything else I’ve seen this year. Really, the only thing that would make this movie better is if it were a little funnier. Don’t get me wrong, this movie is plenty funny. But with all the comedic talent on hand, you’d be forgiven if you were expecting a straight-up laugh riot, which this is not. The downside to having such well fleshed out characters seems to come at the expense of out and out hilarity. But all things considered, it’s a fair enough trade.
Until it becomes the norm and not an annoyingly rare occurrence, it has to be said: this is an excellent movie written by, starring, and directed by a woman that is not only entertaining, but has something very interesting (and unique) to say about women in the industry. (There is a cameo by Geena Davis that turns what seems like vindication into something much more complicated and interesting.) I highly recommend it, and very much look forward to whatever Lake Bell does next.