farce – alan williamson

Every so often a gem of a movie comes along that comes out of nowhere that completely surprises you and makes you wonder how you missed the publicity for it in the first place when it was released.

She’s Funny That Way is what I would call a comedy farce. A movie that builds on its seemingly unrelated characters that slowly have their lives intertwined after various comedic encounters.

Owen Wilson plays the main lead, a theater producer, who has a weakness for escorts. After spending an evening with them, he offers them $30,000 to turn their backs on escorting and to pursue their dreams. Now why specifically $30,000 is never explained.

We see this from the eyes of British actress, Imogen Poots, who does a wonderful New York accent explaining she is using escorting as a way to make ends meet while she attempts to break into acting.

Rhys Ifans is the main lead in the new west end play, who also has a weakness for the call girls, while attempting to relive a magical affair with Wilson’s wife who comes to star in the production.

Jennifer Aniston plays a therapist (rather fat faced) who manages to link a lot of the characters together through both her patients and her boyfriend played by

Will Forte.

As the pace moves on, the outlandish scenes stack on top of one another, adding further complexity between the characters as they weave a web of deceit and misdirection. Naturally, many women to whom he has offered redemption to starts to pop up. Brilliant.

The comedy of this style of movie is perfectly delivered, with the right level of witty one-liners that don’t feel at all strained and keeping within in the situational setup.

Keep your eyes open for Cybill Shepherd who pops up as the down trodden mother of our aspiring lead actress. You may find yourself shouting oooh oooh that is ….

I am not usually a fan of Owen Wilson, but he keeps this role grounded, with a genuine surprise and wit as his life begins to unfold before him.

This sort of movie is straight out of the Woody Allen playbook, complete with the New York back drop, but instead executed to perfection by Peter Bogdanovich.

Watch it, with a glass of red wine, and be prepared to be surprised.