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Shopgirl (2005)
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Movie Review by Tony 
May 1st, 2006
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When Steve Martin is not polluting the local cinema with cinematic cancer such as "Cheaper by the Dozen" or the cleverly titled "Cheaper by the Dozen 2", he's writing novels. Not only writing them, but turning them into films. This one is entitled "Shopgirl" and has been adapted to the big screen with Martin himself, also alongside Claire Danes and the hysterical Jason Schwartzman from "I Heart Huckabees".
"Shopgirl" is not your typical romantic comedy, which is good and bad in a sense. Good in that it is different from your usual predictable romantic comedy with features kicks to the groin, falling down in cake, and numerous animals attacking main characters. But bad in the sense the film is far too series for it's own good and features a charmless, uninteresting, and flat performance from Steve Martin. Martin has not put on his drama shoes in quite some time and it shows.
Claire Danes stars as Mirabelle Buttersfield, a young, lonely sales woman who is forever in debt from college loans and on the side on artist. She listens to those late night radio shows on the way home from work where the callers are as lonely as the listeners as they hope and crave for some kind of love and a cure to their loneliness. She has a lonely apartment and a low key existence.
One day while doing laundry she meets the eccentric yet lovable Jeremy Kraft (Jason Schwartzman). It's an unwritten rule in romantic comedies that laundromats are populated by quirky, eccentric, lonely, and lovable folk. Just waiting to borrow you change and fall in love. In my condo, I live across from a laundromat. It's populated by fat old women with moles and four kids. Apparently they didn't get the memo from screen writers.
They go on a "date" and I use that term loosely. As the date consists of him borrowing 2 bucks from her, buying her fries, and sitting around. After this date, she meets insanely rich and charming Ray Porter played by Steve Martin. He goes on a few dates with her, wines and dines her and uses his large bank account to make her happy. While at the same time, bedding her, yet not really loving her. Just a nice screw on the side when he's between busy meetings and reading the daily news.
The first 30 minutes of the film is effective with Danes and Schwartzman as it perfectly captures the awkwardness, strangeness, and sloppiness of first dates and having sex while your cat scratches your mates balls. I enjoyed Danes as she is cast perfectly as this woman and Schwartzman is perfect for these goofball roles as he has played them before and knows how to do it. I would have rather had a whole film based on their honest and cute relationship. Instead, the film is consisted of too much time spent on Martin/Danes, which is a completely dead in the water romance.
Martin is a rich, sleazy, and sex craving rich man who uses his money to keep Danes and we know he is going to stay this way for the whole film and nothing will change him. I didn't like him, I didn't feel sorry for him, I didn't care for him. I kept hoping that Jason would return and bring back the charms of the first half of the film, but we stick with Martin and his one dimensional, one note, and womanizing character.
"Shopgirl" started off looking like a different romantic comedy with truths about loneliness and meeting people in strange places. Then as soon as Martin appears it follows typical romantic comedy fare only done too seriously and with a leading man who has not done dramatic roles in a while and his rust shows in this performance.
Tony Farinella
Grade: C
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