Simone Navarotti Overall I liked this movie. There are moments that just genuinely surprised me, and in a movie world full of tiresome cliches that's always a really really good thing. I think the casting was done well. I was surprised to see the blonde actress playing the lead. I don't even know her name, and I'm not going to Google it. But I've seen her in smaller roles and she was much less entertaining. This was a good role for her, she did really well in it. The problem with the acting was that it was very turn-taking. "I'll say this this now it's your turn to act." At many points the acting seemed more like a script reading than actual acting. Didn't care for the beginning scenes and set up of the movie. It felt rushed and chaotic. Some of the scenes seemed as if they had been shot with a low-end camcorder (specifically dorm scenes). It's not a life-changing film at all. Slight moral lesson included, which always adds value to film. Entertaining.

Movie_Muse_Reviews Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are at it again, "it" being what it means to be a 20- something in New York City. In "Mistress America," however, the lens and perspective shifts away from the character you'd expect a movie like to this to intimately follow (Gerwig's interesting, ambitious, never-boring Brooke) and instead observes her from an outsider's perspective (Tracy, played by Lola Kirke).Tracy is instead the main character, a Barnard freshman studying literature and writing, trying to make her way through that formidable (and familiar) landscape. Inspiration strikes, however, when she meets Brooke, her future step-sister. Brooke is around 30, and she's been through the grinder both personally and professionally. She is an innovator who always has big ideas, and Tracy uses her life as the basis of a short story that she hopes will get her into the school's prestigious lit magazine. Things get particularly interesting when Brooke finds herself locked out of her apartment one day and learns that her boyfriend has pulled all his financial support out of a restaurant they were just about to open together and she seeks a psychic for advice on where to turn next.Through this blossoming relationship between Tracy and Brooke we observe the typical indie film "portrait of a Millennial" in a way that both mythologizes it (evidenced by Tracy's story/perception of Brooke) and makes it hit home. Brooke is quirky and her life is a melodrama, but it also feels very real. Baumbach and Gerwig's previous collaboration, "Frances Ha," also struck this seemingly contradictory chord of authenticity and whimsy. When there is a dissonance, it's softened by the knowledge that there's such emotional truth at the core of what they're doing.Another way of putting it is that Baumbach and Gerwig aren't so interested in plot points and what happens. At less than 90 minutes, this movie about a relationship between a younger and older 20-something is not trying to show you something you've never seen before. What they do care about is the trajectory of the relationships between characters. It's hard not to see a piece of yourself in the characters, especially if you're of a similar age, and that holds our attention enough that "Mistress America" doesn't fall apart, even when it's not especially compelling."Mistress America" also tends to be be philosophical and angsty. The level of intellectual conversation is to a degree that rarely happens in real life, let alone in these perfect scene-length snippets, but again, like other parts of the film that gravitate closer to being over-the-top, the creative choice to lean that way comes from a strong and earnest desire to explore very relevant themes and ideas.Frankly, Baumbach and Gerwig could tell a hundred different stories about coming of age in your 20s or 30s in a big city and I'd watch (especially at such a reasonable runtime). But even if you don't think you could, the effort they make to explore a unique "relationship" between two women in "Mistress America" and cast light on this familiar film from a new angle makes this particularly story worthwhile.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

brightsides Thoroughly enjoyed this slice-of-life, coming-of-age, comedy/drama. The dialogue is so well written that you feel as though you are eavesdropping on the would-be sisters. The opposite personalities of the characters works so well to illustrate 2 different ways to approach life, the younger woman proceeding with caution, the older without fear. Both actresses, Greta Gerwig and Lola Kirke embody their characters with a naturalness that is rare. The fringe characters were well developed too. They were essential as glue to hold the storyline together. The males in the film were real people, not what Hollywood writers think men are supposed to be. If you enjoy Woody Allen-like fast paced, intelligent dialogue, then this is a must see.

zetes Lola Kirke stars as a college freshman in NYC who feels, as many an 18 year-old, superior to all other people her age, and thus very lonely. Her mother suggests that she get to know her soon-to-be step-sister (Greta Gerwig), who also lives in the city. About 30 (though always claiming to be in her 20s), Gerwig immediately comes across to the audience as a huge phony - but to an 18 year-old, she seems like a wise, worldly woman and Kirke latches onto her immediately. As a film about a couple of phonies, yeah, the targets sometimes seem too easy here. However, both Kirke and Gerwig are so likable that it's easy to see past their terribleness. Deep down, they are flawed people, and you want them to overcome those flaws. It also helps that Gerwig is absolutely hilarious. This isn't nearly the classic that her last collaboration with Baumbach was (like Frances Ha, she co-wrote the film), but it's good and a heck of a lot better than Baumbach's last film, While We're Young.