In a World . . . (2013), a new comic film by a woman named Lake Bell, is frequently droll and honest (with some atypical humor), but finally too soft and tame for my taste. The love interest for main character Carol (Bell)—an amiable, none-too-virile bore (Demetri Martin)—is the kind of man who perfectly confirms this softness. It’s good, then, when hairy Fred Melamed appears on screen to shake things up.
The main action and a subplot involving Carol’s sister Dani and her husband do not gel, and visually the film is too dark. I couldn’t get a handle on the faces of Bell and Michaela Watkins. Yes, for a long time In a World . . . has a strange appeal, the appeal of what seems like a rara avis. And the acting is delicious. Even so . . . this Bell isn’t ringing for me.
English: Lake Bell at the 2011 Comic Con in San Diego (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
