Lisa and I recently went to the Steve Martin movie "Shopgirl" which, unlike most Steve Martin movies, is a drama. "Shopgirl" was actually written by Steve Martin as well. Overall, the movie was pretty decent. It's hard to have to strong an opinion about a movie in which I only cared about one character - the star, Claire Dannes (playing as Mirabelle).
Mirabelle is a struggling artist who moved to LA from Connecticut to pursue her art career. To make ends meet she works at Saks Fifth Avenue at a special counter that sells fancy gloves. Her life is dark, depressing, boring, and lonely. In general she seems like someone who is missing a lot in life. Then she meets two men. The first is a young guy, Jeremy played by Jason Schwartzman, who is a complete ass. He works as an artist/laborer for an amplifier company (making amps for guitars). He is totally selfish and self-absorbed. He basically just wants to get with Mirabelle for the sex and his attitude generally sucks. Why she pays attention to him at all, even given her crappy life, is a mystery.
The second guy is an older millionaire, Ray Porter played by Steve Martin, who acts sensitive and caring but who is really just looking for some young ass while he is in LA for work. Mirabelle doesn't realize he is just using her though and she slowly falls in love with him while Jeremy is on the road discovering himself with a rock band that whose lead singer is deeply into meditation and "new age" CDs.
The entire movie is filmed with fairly dark lighting and has very clean visuals. The dialog is pretty well written and the acting is good. Steve Martin does a surprisingly strong job considering your natural desire to laugh when he talks. He does serious well. Claire Dannes has grown from the last time I might have seen her in either "Little Women" or "Romeo + Juliet". She lends an awkward beauty to a dark and troubled role. Overall, I enjoyed the movie even though it was a bit dry and moved slowly at times. I'm not sure I can recommend it to everyone as it is a niche film and It's hard to say if you will enjoy it or not.
RATING5