SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY

US, 2014, 93 minutes, Colour.
Imogen Poots, Owen Wilson, Rhys Ifans, Kathryn Hahn, Will Forte, Jennifer Aniston, Illeana Douglas, Cybil Shepherd, Richard Lewis, Austin Pendleton, George Morfogen, Debi Mazar, Colleen Camp, Tatum O’ Neal, Jennifer Esposito, Lucy Punch, Joanna Lumley, Quentin Tarantino.
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

She’s Funny That Way is an amusing comedy geared to an older audience. It was directed by Peter Bogdanovich, now himself so much older than in his heyday of the 1970s. He had his ups and downs as a director, but his ups were mainly in the first half of the 1970s with his American classic, The Last Picture Show, then one of the funniest comedies of all time, What’s Up Doc and the nostalgic piece, Paper Moon. It is 13 years since his last film, The Cat’s Meow.

This is a comic farce, a whole lot of coincidences, people turning up at the same place at the same time unexpectedly, people turning up in the wrong place, and then more people turning up… And it has a theatre background, which enables the whole story and characters to be quite theatrical. A lot of visual tumour, verbal humour, situation humour.

The cast is particularly strong, contemporary comic stars and quite a number of cameos from favourites from Bogdanovich’s earlier films, including Austin Pendleton as an obsessed judge, Tatum O’ Neal as a waitress, Colleen Camp, and Cybill Shepherd, Bogdanovich’s partner from way back when, as the rather frumpy mother of the central character. And there is another cameo at the end of the film – but it would be spoilsportish to anticipate the pleasant surprise of discovering who it is…

The she of the title is a New York escort, Izzy, looking attractive and glamorous, telling her life story to Judy, Illeana Douglas, who is taking notes and trying to understand what has happened to Izzy. The rest of the film is made up of flashbacks, but returning all the time to Izzy and her interview.

Izzy is played by English Imogen Poots, immersing herself in the atmosphere of Brooklyn and New York City, carrying off an ambiguous role with some charm and aplomb.

She remembers going to a hotel room of a man calling himself Derek (Owen Wilson) who is charming and finally offers her $30,000 to make a new life. She lives at home, with her parents, Cybill Shepherd and Richard Lewis, who are not enthusiastic about her acting career. But she goes to the audition, only to find that the director is Derek, whose real name is Arnold, who finds it really awkward that she has turned up for the role – and she auditions, perfectly and quite movingly, with Arnold’s wife, Delta (Kathryn Hahn). Also present is the leading man, Seth, who had spied on Arnold the night before and seen Izzy.

And also present is the playwright, Joshua, played by Will Forte. The audience has already seen him walking a New York Street with his peremptory girlfriend and her dog, dismissed by her as she goes to her office, vacated by her alcoholic mother (another humorous cameo appearance by a British actress at the end of the film, a blink and you might miss it). Jane, the younger psychologist, is played by Jennifer Aniston in one of her best, blunt and dominating and domineering, performances.

So, there are all the ingredients for all kinds of mixups, especially since Seth and Delta have appeared on the London stage and formed something of a bond. And, before you know it, several other women are approaching Arnold to thank him profusely (and loudly) for their $30,000 and how it enabled them to make a new life.

The main scene in the first part of the film, apart from the audition, is set in an Italian restaurant with the playwright taking Izzy for a meal, so impressed is he by her audition. And then, the rest of the cast all turn up, including Jane taking the obsessed judge out and, at another table, the private detective that the judge has hired to follow Izzy! Needless to say, a fine mess.

The other fine mess occurs towards the end, in the hotel where Arnold and Seth are staying, Delta turning up for a rendezvous, Arnold summoning Izzy for a discussion, another escort who doesn’t speak English well (Lucy Punch) causing revelations as she is discovered hiding in the bath, only to find that she went to the wrong room! Confusion and attacks all round.

And then we finally go back to Izzy and her interview with Judy, and her explanation of what happened to everyone.

Very light, but quite entertaining.

1. A comedy for adult audiences? Farce? New York story?

2. Peter Bogdanovich and his career, his classics in the 1970s? His incorporating past actors in cameos in this film? A film of an older man?

3. The title? Which she? The focus on Izzy?

4. Humour, visual, verbal, characters, situations, coincidences and drama?

5. New York City, hotels, apartments, theatre, rehearsal rooms, restaurants? The musical score and songs?

6. Izzy, her story, the framework narration to Judy, Judy’s interview, history, psychology, morals? Her appearance, charm, her experiences, confiding in Judy, her talk and her accent – local?

7. The flashbacks, to Arnold/Derek, his arrival, tired, the encounter with Seth, phone call to Delta, the range of phone calls, Delta, agents, arranging the escort, the setup? Seth and his watching? Izzy arriving, their going out, Indian food and dinner, the night together, the talk, his affirmation of her, offering her $30,000, the story of squirrels to the nuts? Izzy and her hopes to be an actress?

8. Arnold, his deceptions, the airport, Delta and the kids, the range of women coming up to him, thanking him for his gift of the money, their stories and making a success of their lives, this being repeated – fashion designers, the woman in the shop, even Vicky?

9. The theme of squirrels and the nuts, the quotation from Cluny Brown – and the finale with the scenes from the film?

10. The theatre background, people arriving for the auditions, the producer’s daughters, Arnold and Delta, the manager, Joshua as the playwright? Izzy’s arrival, Arnold shock, the farce, Izzy and the performance with Delta, perfect? The awkwardness of the situation?

11. Jane’s story, in the street, with the dog, bossing Joshua about? Her mother the psychologists, drinking and going away? Jane and her practice, her relationship with Joshua, sending him off, criticisms of his father on the phone calls? The arrival of the judge, the interview, the discussions about confidentiality? Izzy, the discussions? Urging her to improve her life or name, self-respect?

12. The restaurant, Joshua and Izzy? Arnold arriving with Delta? Seth and the escort? And his previous spying, letting Arnold knows that he knew? Jane and the judge? Joshua’s father and his private detection work? Working with the judge? Jane and her being upset, slapping Joshua? The farcical aspects and coincidences? Joshua and Izzy leaving, going to her home, having the meal?

13. Izzy, her parents, their rough style, attitude towards their daughter’s work, Joshua’s visit?

14. The relationship between Seth and Delta, their friendship from London and appearing, their ease together, Seth’s flirting, Delta’s response?

15. The story of the judge, his wife, his using the escort, calling Izzy Glostick, having to make decisions, needing help, his becoming more and more obsessive, hiring the detective to follow Izzy, the tangle of everyone meeting? The irony that the detective was Joshua’s father?

16. Delta, going shopping, with Arnold, the assistant and her thinking, the squirrels story? Delta and her reaction?

17. The play, Joshua and his attitude, Izzy and her hopes? The opening, the performance, success, her parents happy, Arnold waiting outside?

18. Seth, the rendezvous with Delta, her arrival, the arrival of the foreign escort, not comprehending, the phone calls, hiding in the bath, discovered, Delta’s reaction – and the escort explaining she had gone to the wrong room?

19. Arnold, Izzy, in the apartment, Delta’s arrival, showdown?

20. Later, Izzy and her telling the story? The ending for everyone? Arnold, relationships? Delta and a new husband? Seth and his being with Jane? Jane and her practice? The judge? And the irony of Izzy and her date – Quentin Tarantino!