Frances Ha 
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Esper, Michael Zegen
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Rated: R
Run Time: 86 mins
Genre: Comedy
Opens May 24th
By Lisa Minzey of The Reel Critic.com
Hey Phoenix Film Fans! Opening this week at exclusively Harkins Camelview is the indie comedy Frances Ha starring Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner and Adam Driver. Gerwig teamed up with director Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale" - Director, "Fantastic Mr. Fox"- writer) to pen the script but how does it fare in the world of comedy? Read on to find out.
Frances (Greta Gerwig) is a bit of a “free spirit”. She lives with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner); works in a dance company and is living life as a struggling artist in New York. Only face in the previous statement is true; she’s a struggling artist. Mickey has an opportunity to live in an apartment in an area she loves and takes it, leaving Frances to find a place of her own. She also is just an apprentice in the dance company she belongs to and has been trying forever to be invited to tour. When she finds out that she is being laid off from the apprenticeship, Frances is lost. She has managed to drift away from her best friend; she’s technically homeless and unemployed; she’s considered by a friend/ roommate Benji (Michael Zegen) to be “un-datable” and she’s majorly in debt.
Will she be able to figure her life out and be able to move on the next stage or continue to live this meager, hipster existence until she’s way past her prime?
In past generations, there are films that help define a generation. In the 1980’s there was “The Breakfast Club”; 1990’s it was “Singles”; the 2000’s “American Pie”, and now there are films such as this where the hipster, unemployed, post college grad lifestyle is either defined by a whiny protagonist who can’t seem to get themselves out of a paper bag, nor have the common sense to figure out solutions to their “first world problems”. Artistically speaking the cinematography is interesting and fun t watch as it’s shot entirely in black & white, giving it a 1950’s-esq/"Rebel Without a Cause” look/feel, but overall the story falls flat as it is uninteresting and tiresome to hear this girl whine about her life for 80 minutes of the film. What is meant to be quirky, awkward and endearing just comes across as lazy, unintelligent and superficial. You be the judge when “Frances Ha” opens at Harkins Camelview starting Friday May 24, 2013.
