Damsels in Distress (2012)

Director: Whit Stillman

It's hard not to describe this film as anything but a Whit Stillman film. It has everything you expect from his films: whip-smart dialogue, subtle intellectual jokes, young well-off characters who still complain about their lives, and an exploration of a specific young people culture. The only way this film is a little different from his other films is that it's not about bourgeoisie yuppies of the 1980's, instead these characters are modern day girls in college. These specific college girls, led by a great lead performance by Greta Gerwig who is really coming into her own as an actress, are not your average college girls though, they are smart self-confident girls who date men who are pretty much buffoons. It's a very specific subculture, but Stillman treats it as a subculture nonetheless. The girls believe it is their duty to help these boys out and elevate them by dating them, all in addition to operating a suicide prevention center out of what they believe to be their own good will. In the beginning of the film though, a new girl comes along, befriends them, and provides perspective to what they are doing by confronting the selfishness in their actions.

Like all Stillman films, there is very little plot and the true joy of the movie comes from listening to these people speak and just go through their fairly normal life. Their complaints about their normal life is also what makes them such shallow people, because all this faux-drama is introduced even though their lives are really quite simple. The movie though is pretty slight, not really ambitious at all. The reason to see the film is because it's just a joy to see smart intellectual, but arrogant and selfish, people try to find love and connection with other human beings, especially with those who aren't like them. Stillman's dialogue is just wonderfully entertaining because of its unique Woody Allen-esque intellectual humor, though it's definitely a type of humor that not all filmgoers will connect with (see at your own risk). Damsels in Distress does its dialogue and characters best, and while it's not the most meaningful film by a longshot, the film does provoke thoughts on the ideas of shallowness, ones principles and its relationship to your image, all while being enormously entertaining and funny.

Grade: B