Kristen Wiig is mostly known for her very quirky characters. So what happens when she plays a leading role a little more subtly?
Girl Most Likely is the story of Imogene (Wiig), a failed New York playwright. She loses her boyfriend and job in quick succession. In an attempt to get her boyfriend back she fakes a suicide. However, she does a little too good a job and ends up in a overcrowded psychiatric ward. There she is released to her gambling addicted mother, Zelda (Annette Bening) who takes her back home to New Jersey.
Back home she sees that much has changed. Her room is being rented out to a young guy named Lee (Darren Criss) and her mom has a live in boyfriend, George, also known as The Bousche (Matt Dillon), who claims to be a covert CIA operative, amongst other things. Luckily, her reclusive, shut in brother Ralph (Christopher Fitzgerald) is still the same. He maybe a little slow, but he’s just opened his own shop on the boardwalk where he sells hermit craps (he’s a little obsessed).
Girl Most Likely is about Imogene rediscovering who she is and where she belongs. She was told her father died when she was nine, but it turns out he is in fact still alive. Will he be the connection that gets her back to New York where she thinks she belongs? Or will her quirky family, and Lee, make her realize that Jersey is where she should have been all along?
This is a a very quirky quiet little film that borderlines on silly and sad. In some ways it very much reminded me of Will Ferrell’s Everything Must Go, but it doesn’t work quite as well. The acting across the board is very solid. Wiig does a very good job playing a more reeled in character. And Bening and Dillon are both great supporting roles. I’m pretty sure Criss was cast just so he could do a little song and dance number, but he does a good job all around and plays well off Wiig.
Girl Most Likely is one of those films that’s not as funny as maybe it should be. I don’t think it’s trying to come of as serious, but at times it does, maybe more so than it should. It’s not serious enough to be a drama, and not quite funny enough to be a full blown comedy. It lingers somewhere in the middle, which will certainly work for some people, but there will definitely be those who just don’t get what this film is trying to accomplish.
The film is presented in 1.78:1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. It’s a well shot film and the sound is fine. Nothing to complain about here, but nothing outstanding either. Everything is just as good as it needs to be.
You get Deleted Scenes (3 min.), a Gag Reel (2 min.), a Making of (9 min.) and a strange featurette called Life In A Human Shell (3 min.). None of which are very interesting.
Fans of Kristin Wiig and Annette Bening will surely enjoy this film, at least a little. It’s not amazing, but I don’t think it’s trying to be. It’s a cute little story and not the worst way to spend an hour and a half.
Lionsgate presents Girl Most Likely. Written by: Michelle Morgan. Directed by: Shair Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. Starring: Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, Darren Criss, Christopher Fitzgerald, Natasha Lyonne and Bob Balaban. Running time: 104 minutes. Rating: PG-13. Released: November 5, 2013.
