Old fashioned comedy a light, lovely confection
She’s Funny That Way is an oldfashioned screwball comedy from director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) — his first feature in about a dozen years. The filmmaker has put together an impressive ensemble cast to spin a comic tale of various love entanglements, mostly set in hotel rooms and behind the scenes of a Broadway production.
Isabella Patterson (Imogen Poots), is a Brooklyn call girl and aspiring actress who tells her story through an interview with a cynical reporter named Judy (Illeana Douglas).
Owen Wilson co-stars here as Arnold Albertson, a theatre director with a penchant for prostitutes. He sleeps with Isabella but then convinces her to give up her tawdry profession. She should follow her heart, he says, and she does.
The very next day Isabella turns up to audition for some new play Arnold is directing.
She auditions for the part of a call girl. Ironic! And she’s terrific.
The cast and crew of Arnold’s play includes his wife (Kathryn Hahn), a vain actor who is the wife’s ex-lover (Rhys Ifans), the playwright (Will Forte), and the playwright’s girlfriend, a manic psychiatrist played by Jennifer Aniston. You can see the complications already.
That’s just for starters. Along the way you’ll see Richard Lewis and Cybill Shepherd as Isabella’s parents and you’ll glimpse Debi Mazar, Austin Pendleton, Tovah Feldshuh, Jennifer Esposito, Tatum O’Neal, Michael Shannon and Lucy Punch, among others.
The story? On the road to fame and fortune, Isabella and Arnold run around in circles in each other’s lives, create havoc for others and move toward a happy ending.
She’s Funny That Way is silly and entertaining. Everyone involved appears to be having a lot of fun spoofing the world of artists and actors. This is a light and lovely confection that doesn’t linger in the mind, but it will leave you smiling.