Lola Versus | Movie review

Carefree 29-year-old Gothamite Lola (Greta Gerwig) never expected to be dumped by her fiancé, Luke (Joel Kinnaman), just three weeks before their wedding. But here she is, suddenly manless, before the opening credits of Daryl Wein’s flimsy romantic comedy have finished rolling. At first, she doesn’t even have the motivation to feed herself a potato chip. But Lola’s scatterbrained spunk (a Gerwig character hallmark) slowly returns as she reluctantly reenters the dating pool.

You could describe the shenanigans that ensue as a mumblecore Sex and the City—if HBO’s Girls hadn’t already stolen Lola’s thunder on that front. Guffaw as our flighty heroine trolls downtown Manhattan bars with her snappy, saucy best friend (cowriter Zoe Lister-Jones). Cringe as her parents (an ill-used Bill Pullman and Debra Winger) offer romantic advice that’s either way too intimate or several generations out of date. Feel the suspense as she waffles over whether to take up with her ex’s hipster-musician best bud (Hamish Linklater). Gerwig is plenty charming, considering the rote material she’s been given. Yet the movie still feels like a devolution after her distinctively eccentric turns in Greenberg and Damsels in Distress.