She’s Funny That Way

Peter Bogdanovich’s first theatrical effort in almost 15 years, She’s Funny That Way follows prostitute-turned-actress Isabella “Izzy” Patterson (Imogen Poots) as she reveals the story of her success to a probing interviewer (Illeana Douglas’ Judy) – with the movie, for the most part, subsequently unfolding in a series of flashbacks. The primary thrust of the narrative details Izzy’s illicit relationship with a well-known director named Arnold Albertson (Owen Wilson) and how the coupling affects the play in which they’re both involved, with complications ensuing as Izzy and Arnold’s affair has a pronounced impact on a variety of periphery players – including Arnold’s actress wife (Kathryn Hahn’s Delta), a playwright (Will Forte’s Joshua) with a crush on Izzy, and a judge (Austin Pendleton’s Pendergast) who’s developed an unhealthy fixation on Poots’ character. It’s clear virtually from the get-go that Bogdanovich, along with coscreenwriter Louise Stratten, is looking to cultivate a screwball atmosphere with She’s Funny That Way, as the movie possesses many of the attributes that one has come to expect from the long-out-of-fashion genre – with the protagonists’ ongoing penchant for coincidentally crossing paths certainly standing as a key example of this. (There is, for example, a fairly amusing sequence in which most of the primary characters separately converge on the same Italian restaurant.) And although it’s lacking in gut-busting, laugh-out-loud moments, She’s Funny That Way possesses an affable, briskly-paced feel that effectively carries it through its admittedly padded out third act – with the able efforts of the talented cast elevating the material on an impressively persistent basis (ie though it’s not one of the genre’s most accomplished effort, the film remains a watchable throwback almost from beginning to end).

*** out of ****