Shopgirl (Widescreen)

 

 

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I know that Steve Martin wrote both the novella and the screenplay for "Shopgirl," and obviously he is playing the role of Ray Porter, but I think that having him doing the voiceover for the omnisicent narrator was a bit much. That is because we are inclined to think he is talking as Ray rather than as the author, and whiile I can make it work either way, it is something of a distraction to try and figure out which one is the right interepretation. Besides, this is a charming little of story and we should just be concentrating on the matter at hand.

I was going to say that "Shopgirl" was about a love triangle that not is not strictly true. Mirabelle Buttersfield (Claire Danes), is the title figure, working behind the glove counter at Saks Fifth Avenue and trying not to be bored out of her mind. One night at the laundromat she meets up with Jeremy Kraft (Jason Schwartzman), who is clearly a loser. But apparently he is better than nothing because she not only goes out with him but also sleeps with him, despite his revolting idea of birth control.

Then one day at the store she talks has a customer that she convinces to buy the black gloves and not the gray. She is then surprised to find the gloves and some flowers, along with an invitation to dinner, signed Ray Porter (Martin). Ray is old enough to be Mirabelle's father, but he has charm and money, not to mention restraint, and Mirabelle decides to see him instead of Jeremy, who goes out of town with a rock band to be a roadie and to spend time on the bus listening to self-help tapes.

There is really no surprise here, because you get a sense for the dynamic of these relationships and the fact that the characters are going to change for better or worse over the course of the film. There is also a point where we cut back and forth between Ray talking to his psychiatrist and Mirabelle talking to her girl friends, where our sympathies are settled by default rather than my inclination. Plus there is a grace note of regret at the end that I appreciated, along with the nice little joke played out on one of Mirabelle's friends, who turns out not to be that nice. The result is charming, with elements both sad and sweet, and a nice set of performacnes from the three principles.

Mirabelle works at a fancy store

Selling gloves - oh what a bore

A struggling artist, always broke

Her social life's become a joke

She meets a guy at a Laundromat

They meet and greet, and then they chat

On their first date she pays her way

His telephone number gets chucked away

But then the loneliness sets in

She lets him take her for a spin

Out of the blue comes this guy Ray

A winning smile, and with cash to play

Completely swept right off her feet

She's never had it quite so sweet

Wining, dining, fancy clothes

And paying off the debt she owes

But then she takes stock of her life

Some day she'd like to be a wife

You know she'll choose one or the other

But neither one is worth the bother

The acting's great, the plot less so

Just people going with the flow

For rainy days it's worth the rental

Especially for the sentimental

Amanda Richards

Im at something of a loss as to how to go about reviewing this particular movie. There's really no pigeon-holing Shopgirl, as it's just an odd mixture of drama and romance. It's definitely not heavy on comedy, so you'll need to look elsewhere if you want Steve Martin to make you laugh. Somehow managing to be both superficial and introspective, this film easily drew me in, but I never really felt comfortable in this world of lovers and choices. For me, there's just something unsettling about the whole thing; it plays like a special romantic episode of The Twilight Zone.

You've got to hand it to Steve Martin, though; besides writing the novella upon which the film is based (as well as the actual screenplay) and starring in the film, he gets to spend some quality romantic time with the always-enchanting Claire Danes. Good work, my friend. I think it is this May-November (I don't think Steve Martin quite deserves the December label just yet) relationship that bothers me a little bit, though  not that there's anything wrong with it. It's the nature of this specific relationship that I find troubling, for plot-related reasons it would be uncouth of me to reveal in a review.

This whole story really revolves around Claire Danes' character, Mirabelle Buttersfield. She's a young woman whose dreams of a fresh new start in L.A. have settled down into a life of boredom and disappointment. Selling gloves at Saks isn't exactly fulfilling, nor does it pay enough to start making a dent on all if Mirabelle's student loans. Not only is she lonely enough to go out with a really weird, grungy, hairy "artist," she's lonely enough to actually call him up after their first undeniably boring date. The young man, Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), is smitten with her, of course, but he is soon replaced by a new man in Mirabelle's life  a man more than old enough to be her father. Ray Porter (Steve Martin) is charming and safe, which allows him to win our young salesgirl's affection rather easily. Unfortunately, the nature of that relationship comes to differ in the minds of Ray and Mirabelle, and that is the emotional lever upon which this distinctive story hinges. Ultimately, Mirabelle faces a bona fide life-changing decision. It's much more than a simple romantic choice between two very different men, as it leads to a whole new direction in Mirabelle's life.

I liked this movie, but I'm still not sure just how much I liked it. The superficiality of the characters creates several plot points that took place too quickly and with no contextual support, and the whole thing invoked a number of private Why? questions in my mind. That makes this film less emotionally compelling than it could have been, yet I still found Shopgirl captivating in a way I can't completely understand.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting at first sight, but...
I read some reviews about "Shopgirl", and decided to give it a try. It seemed like an entertaining romance, and I thought that the plot was promising albeit not overly original... Read more

Published on Jan 7 2007 by M. B. Alcat

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