by Frank Calvillo
Who doesn’t love Lake Bell? The charming actress has that combination of striking looks and chameleon-like talents, which allow her to seamlessly take on any role thrown at her in virtually every genre imaginable.
This week she stars alongside Owen Wilson as an American couple living in Southeast Asia trying to get their family to safety after a coup breaks out in the thriller No Escape.
No Escape is the kind of late summer fare most audiences eat up and will hopefully add more luster to Bell’s continuously rising star. Yet no matter how high the film may raise her profile, it will fail to even come close to the sheer brilliance of Bell’s screenwriting/directing/starring vehicle, In A World…
The heroine of In A World… is Carol (Bell), a 30 year old woman with skilled vocal talents working as a voice coach. The daughter of Sam (Fred Melamed), one of the film industry’s most renowned movie trailer voice over artists, Carol dreams of a career that rivals her father’s, but keeps getting shut out due to the industry’s longtime exclusion of women in that specific industry. When Carol accidentally takes a job from a popular voice over artist (Ken Marino), she finds herself in the running to be the trailer narrator for an eagerly anticipated movie franchise.
As a film geek, the main draw of In A World… for me is hands down the inside look it provides on the trailer industry. The art of the movie trailer is so often taken for granted by the general public, who fail to acknowledge how much of an artform it actually is. Moreover, I love how In A World… pays homage to those individuals who consider being a part of the trailer-making process a true craft. While the film does question the tradition of trailer narration as being an unofficial “boys only” club, there’s no denying the love and affection Bell and her script have for those who devote all their time and skill to highlighting the joy and thrill of the movies.
Though it doesn’t appear so at first glance, In a World… is also one of the freshest romantic comedies around. Initially a comment about the movie trailer industry, In A World… manages to rewrite the rules of the romantic comedy by presenting two different couples grappling with different sides of love.
The first is the relationship between Carol and Louis (Dimitri Martin), a sound engineer with a crush on Carol who believes in her talent so much, he helps her land her first trailer gig and continues to be her biggest champion. Where most romantic comedies feature pairings where one person has it all figured out and the other is usually fumbling things up, here the audience is given two socially awkward, yet totally lovable misfits who need to shuffle through the politics of their industry as well as their own insecurities in order to be the people they want to be for each other.
On the opposite end of the romance spectrum is the fragile and quirky marriage between Carol’s sister Dani (Michaela Watkins) and her husband Moe (Rob Corddry). Though the two have not been married a long time, extramarital temptations in the form of a next door neighbor and a charming client prove a stumbling block for the two, with Carol hilariously stuck in the middle. While In A World… could have existed just fine without this subplot, Bell’s take on this subject as a writer and her handling of these scenes as a director display even more of her untapped potential.
Without question, In A World…’s shining array of character actors prove to be one of the film’s biggest assets. Marino is great as this delusional voice over artist who feels he’s bigger than the stars of the films he narrates, while Corddry and Watkins have great chemistry in their scenes and Alexandra Holden takes the young girlfriend image and elevates it to a surprisingly touching level.
However, its Melamed and Martin, as Carol’s father and love interest, respectively, that are able to really make their characters their own and infuse them with enough eccentricities and heart to very nearly steal the spotlight from their delightful leading lady.
Yet this is Bell’s show all the way, and through Carol the actress found the perfect showcase for her criminally underused comedic talents, and with her use of pathos, is able to create a romantic comedy lead that truly feels like a real person rather than a studio manufactured composite.
The obvious feminist statement of women not being accepted by the industry and the general moviegoing public is made loud and clear throughout In A World… Yet Bell doesn’t soapbox her film by turning it into a feature length campaign for better treatment of women in Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong, Bell makes her case in a clear and upfront way leading to one of the film’s key moments featuring Geena Davis (herself the real-life founder of an institute for gender studies in the media) in a supporting role as a powerful Hollywood producer who speaks volumes about the standing of women in the business. The genius of Bell is that she is able to make her points in purely narrative style without any type of grandstanding.
In A World… was declared a solid hit upon its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, where it also managed to take home the prize for Best Screenplay. After securing distribution through Roadside Attractions, the film was released in late summer 2013 to almost unanimous acclaim from critics who lauded Bell for her take on the industry and her reworking of a cliche-ridden genre. The film managed to turn a profit as well, yet was curiously absent from any of the major awards that year. Its a shame since Bell most certainly deserved an Oscar nomination for her fresh screenplay as did Melamed for his incredible work.
Looking back though, Bell was able to accomplish so much with In A World… Not only was her film bold and heartwarming, but it made a statement about how actresses, as well as women in general, shouldn’t have to wait for the breaks to come their way. They can make their own all by themselves.
