Leydon's "Shopgirl" wrongo

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Moving Picture Blog's Joe Leydon is weirding out on us -- he's recommending readers to watch a Monday evening Starz cable network showing of "the criminally under-rated" Shopgirl ...good God!

"Steve Martin the author is well served by Steve Martin the multihyphenate in this delicately nuanced 2005 dramedy," Leydon writes...bullshit! And that goes double for Leydon's claim that it's "a smartly reconstituted yet surpris- ingly faithful adaptation" of Martin's novella.

I could rephrase what I wrote about Shopgirl during the 2005 Toronto Film Festival , but it's easier to just paste it:

"Shopgirl is said to be based on Steve Martin's dry, somewhat downbeat novella of the same name. It's not, actually.

"Someone at Disney said, 'We can't really do Steve's book...we have to settle for taking the basic story line and then broadening it out and adding extra moods and colors and beefing up the Jason Schwartzman character so we can get the kids to come see it."

"And then the director, Anand Tucker, decided to add syrupy violin music and splashes of artsy-fartsy digital photography here and there, and the end result is simultaneously too much and not enough. It seems overly fussed with, as if portions of it were re-shot and re-edited. A lot of it feels awkwardly stitched together and tonally lumpy.

"If everyone had said, 'Let's make a little movie that's really based on Steve's book for next to nothing and worry about pocketing the big paychecks on the next job,' it might have worked...maybe.

"It's basically the story of Mirabelle (Claire Danes), a would-be artist who's slowly dying of boredom selling gloves at the Beverly Hills branch of Saks Fifth Avenue (i.e., the one in which Winona Ryder was busted for shoplifting). For what it's worth, Danes gives the film's best performance by far...but then she's always good.

"The movie spends 15 or 20 minutes setting up her relationship with a poor amplifier technician named Jeremy (Schwartzman) before Ray Porter (Martin) comes into the store and sweeps Mirabelle off her feet with some genteel moves that include lavishing her with nice gifts and paying off her college loan.

"You know Danes isn't going to last with Martin and will end up with Schwartzman, etc., but I wasn't prepared for the depressing fact that Martin is looking older and puffier than I'd prefer. I don't know if it's cosmetic surgery or whatever, but he should try and go back to looking precisely the way he did when he made All of Me, or at least The Spanish Prisoner.

"And it's understandable that Martin's Ray Porter doesn't say any sharp zingy lines because he's this slightly dull guy from Seattle, but it would have been cool regardless if he had been written as a Steve Martin-ish wise-ass."

Scott on New Movie Choices<< previous | next >>CGI tears, cont'd

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 18, 2007 at 4:21 PM

comment #1

Josh Massey says ...

If only we all had the magical ability to look precisely how we did in 1984...

Wait, that means I'd look like an 8-year-old. Never mind.

Posted by Josh Massey at March 18, 2007 4:44 PM

comment #2

Arran says ...

"Older and puffier than I'd prefer?"

Jesus jumping fuck.

And maybe - d'ya think? - he's calling it underrated precisely because of reviews like yours?

Posted by Arran at March 18, 2007 5:01 PM

comment #3

Joe Leydon says ...

Arran: Could be.

Posted by Joe Leydon at March 18, 2007 5:10 PM

comment #4

jeffmcm says ...

We all saw that close-up photo of Wells taken by Emmanuel Lubezki.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 18, 2007 5:44 PM

comment #5

Joe Leydon says ...

Gosh, I've just recorded a massive uptick in the number of hits on my obscure little blog. At this rate, I dunno, I might actually get over 400 tonight. Are there any other movies I can praise that you'll dis me for liking, Jeff? I can use the traffic. LOL.

(P.S. I still think "Reign Over Me" is pretty damn good.)

Posted by Joe Leydon at March 18, 2007 5:57 PM

comment #6

Ju-osh says ...

Here me out, Gruver.
Hollywood Elsewhere Pictures presents...
A remake of Shopgirl!
We cast you in the Steve Martin role, and up and comer Lucy Brown in the Claire Danes part.
Sure, you're a little puffier than you were in your banner photo, but at least your hair aint white, right?
The money will pour in, like manna from henna...er, heaven.

Posted by Ju-osh at March 18, 2007 5:58 PM

comment #7

Rob says ...

This movie felt like torture to me - the only thing that kept it from deadly dullness was the creepiness of Martin's fetishizing of Danes.

Posted by Rob at March 18, 2007 6:10 PM

comment #8

Mike Schaefer says ...

I also hated Shopgirl. (SPOILERS AHEAD!) I found Danes' character annoyingly passive; then when she breaks down after Martin dumps her, it makes no sense. And of course the Schwartzman character conveniently goes off and becomes rich so he can come back at the end of the movie and "save" her.

However, the audience I saw it with was full of twentysomething women in groups of 3 and 4 who clearly loved it.

Posted by Mike Schaefer at March 18, 2007 6:30 PM

comment #9

dobbsy says ...

I didn't love Shopgirl but I'll defend to the death Joe's right to like it, especially after all the overrated hogwash Jeff has shilled for on this site. And this string is more entertaining than all of them!

Ju-Osh, you are clearly paying more attention than Jeff might like at this moment, as his older dude crush on younger Brit babe is showing like the creases in Keith Richard's cheek, just as he republishes his knock on Steve Martin for daring to creatively explore that same mournful conundrum called, "Oops, I Aged It Again."

For the record, I've got a long list of movies the world calls "crap" which mean a lot to me on lots of levels. That's why we go to the movies, right? Until the thought police jail for liking the wrong pictures.

Posted by dobbsy at March 18, 2007 6:34 PM

comment #10

Ju-osh says ...

Dobbsy, old boy, I think you've just thought of a wonderful thread idea:
Movies that the world calls "crap" which mean a lot to us.
A few of mine:
Black Ceasar (Cohen)
Frankie & Johnny (Marshall)
Detour (Ulmer)
2002 (Yip)
The Man From Snowy River (Miller)

Posted by Ju-osh at March 18, 2007 7:32 PM

comment #11

R. Hunt says ...

Jeff, you need to remember the one rule that film critics forget most often. Just because somebody disagrees with you that doesn't make them "wrong". It's like broccoli; maybe you don't like it, but that doesn't mean other people are eating it out of bad judgment. Personally, I liked "Shopgirl" - the book as well as the movie.
And Ju-osh, I have to agree with you on "Detour" - as sleek and economical as a film noir can get - and "Black Caesar"..

Posted by R. Hunt at March 18, 2007 7:41 PM

comment #12

D.Z. says ...

Danes is a horrible actress in general. She's the Gwyneth Paltrowe of teen actresses.

Posted by D.Z. at March 18, 2007 8:43 PM

comment #13

Joel says ...

D.Z. Isn't Claire Danes 28? Gwyenth is only 7 years older.

Posted by Joel at March 18, 2007 9:40 PM

comment #14

Noah says ...

I actually think it's a perfect adaptation of the novella. The only problem is that I hated the book and I hate the movie for the same reasons. I don't understand why Mirabelle would be with Jeremy. In the book he disappears for the whole fucking thing, only to show up at the end and Mirabelle falls into his arms. At least in the movie, you see more of Jeremy so it's not as out of the blue. Still, it's not a good movie. I respect Leydon a lot, though, so I will respectfully disgree with him here.

Posted by Noah at March 18, 2007 10:30 PM

comment #15

jeffmcm says ...

I thought that Detour was widely acknowledged to be a low-budget classic.

Posted by jeffmcm at March 18, 2007 10:37 PM

comment #16

Doug says ...

What a coincidence, I was just about to watch "Shopgirl," but came to HE first. I liked the book and the film. I'm not always a Claire Danes fan, but I thought she deserved an Oscar nomination for this performance.

Posted by Doug at March 19, 2007 3:57 AM

comment #17

le corbeau says ...

Yeah, the idea that Detour is considered crap ceased being true about 40 years ago.

My movie most of the world thinks is crap, and I love: Johnny Handsome. A tragic noir fable, letter-perfect directed by Walter Hill. I guess most people can't look past Mickey Rourke in his high cheesemonster-stardom phase, though I'd bet Robert Rodriguez is a fan.

Posted by le corbeau at March 19, 2007 7:02 AM

comment #18

DavidF says ...

(Shrugs) I liked SHOPGIRL. It wasn't the best movie ever but it had some wonderful moments. Daines was great, Martin was solid (certainly the best thing in the last few years of his filmography - he's getting close to Eddie Murphy territory, I fear.)
It does slightly veer from "realistic" with the Jeremy stuff (and the stuff involving Bridget Sampras) but the addition of most of that does flesh out what's missing in the novella.
It's sort of a weird, darker sequel to LA STORY. If you like Martin at all it's worth seeing and making your own judgement.

Posted by DavidF at March 19, 2007 9:05 AM

comment #19

DavidF says ...

Which reminds me, wasn't Fred Schepisi doing a movie of PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE?
Whatever happened with that...

Posted by DavidF at March 19, 2007 9:07 AM

comment #20

Pelham123 says ...

I thought "Shopgirl" was okay, though I wanted to kill Jason Schwartzman's hyper annoying character. I didn't believe for a second that Claire Danes would find him the least bit interesting (especially after she came home to find him in her apartment splayed out all over the couch. Sure, every woman loves to come home to a relatively strange man in their home. Not cute.) As to the underrated movies mentioned above -- "Johnny Handsome" is a real underrated movie (as is most of Walter Hill's fine work.)

Posted by Pelham123 at March 19, 2007 9:37 AM

comment #21

christian says ...

SHOPGIRL was a wafer thin novella even for a novella. i love steve martin but his writing has the depth of tapioca. and this bid at LOST IN TRANSLATION style make-over....well, you've seen THE PINK PANTHER etc...

Posted by christian at March 19, 2007 10:07 AM

comment #22

The Movie Man says ...

Steve Martin needs to drop the ego for a couple of months and hook up with Paul Thomas Anderson or Alxeander Payne. But then again I think every actor should work with Paul Thomas Anderson or Alexander Payne.

Posted by The Movie Man at March 19, 2007 5:04 PM

comment #23