Destined for Insta #fame
WINGRID GOES WEST ★★★
ITH icy precision, “Ingrid Goes West” skewers our culture of online best-life performance. Its double-barreled satire is aimed at both those who curate their lives through merrily sundappled photos, and their followers, who drink it in as reality.
Aubrey Plaza’s Ingrid is an emotionally damaged loner who lives her life through Instagram, where a kind word from a stranger with an attractive life is all she needs to consider them a bestie-to-be. She sets out for Los Angeles with designs on friending Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen), whose online profile is a faux-casual bohemian paradise: “Another day, another avocado toast!” Ingrid’s pursuit of Taylor is very funny and awfully uncomfortable and, at its ugliest, veers into straight-up mocking mental illness.
But “Ingrid” has a secret weapon, and it’s O’Shea Jackson Jr. So fierce in “Straight Outta Compton,” he shows he’s got comedic prowess, too, as Ingrid’s landlord, who’s an aspiring screenwriter totally obsessed with Batman. He’s the only one who sees her weirdness and is OK with it.
“Ingrid” also takes a knowing swipe at Californian affect: “What’s your biggest emotional wound?” a waiter chirps. “That’s our question of the day!” Taylor’s husband (Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn) paints “found art” landscapes with “squad goals” or “#nofilter.” Olsen nails it as Taylor, who speaks exclusively in superlatives: “Ohmygod, you’re my favorite person I’ve ever met!” As Plaza, who also produced, drinks in the praise, you can almost see her winking at the audience. She’s the closest thing I’ve seen to an eyeroll personified.