3.5 stars out of 5
In the ’90s, my then-roommate Joe and I were watching Letterman, and Hank Azaria was the guest. He started riffing on movie-trailer voiceovers. “A Time to BLAAAH” was the phrase that really cracked us up, and we repeated it to each other over and over again. I had never really given these voiceovers any thought, and maybe pop culture hadn’t considered them too much either.
Soon enough, though, it became kind of a kitschy “thing”—society was aware of the voiceovers, and sometimes even knew who did them (the self-promoting-“legend” Don LaFontaine, the ubiquitous Morgan Freeman). And it all leads to In a World…, a light, harmless comedy set in the very specific world of movie-trailer voiceovers.
Most praise or criticism of In a World… must fall on Lake Bell, who wrote, directed, stars in, and even appeared on the cover of New York magazine nearly naked to promote the movie. She enlists some of her alt-comedy pals from TV’s Childrens Hospital to help out: Ken Marino, Rob Corddry, a mustache-less Nick Offerman. Other comedic-types hanging around include Demetri Martin, SNL-castoff Michaela Watkins, Tig “Got a Lot of Publicity From Cancer” Notaro, and Jeff Garlin. Adding a little gravitas is Fred Melamed, who was so great as Sy Albeman in A Serious Man.
But this is really Bell’s show, portraying a hopeful young voiceover artist in the shadow of her industry-king father (Melamed). Bell comes across as smart and quite likable. As a writer, she has important points to make: That voiceovers are unfairly a male-dominated field, and, more crucially, that young women need to drop the baby-doll act and be more assertive. Unfortunately the script is not quite as sharp as it could be, and as a director, Bell can’t quite make all the pieces fit together. There’s a very random subplot with her sister and brother-in-law (Watkins and Corddry) and infidelity. Demetri Martin trying to court Bell provides some of the most charming scenes here, but I wish that storyline had been expanded.
Still, overall, I was rooting for the movie, and I did like it. A dumb movie would’ve thrown some big obvious “obstacle” in the protagonist’s way but Bell keeps things pretty subtle and mellow. There are laughs throughout, and when there aren’t laughs there are at least smiles. Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half on a late summer afternoon.
Side note: My longtime young pal who works at the Clairidge theater was wearing a suit yesterday. Finally promoted to manager? Or had to show up for his shift right after a wedding or something? I guess I’ll find out next time.
Jack Silbert, curator