SNMR 4.29: "Shopgirl"

Tonight's SNMR feature is "Shopgirl" (2005, R, 106 minutes), staring Claire Danes, Steve Martin, Jason Schwartzman and Bridgette Wilson-Sampras. The film was directed by Anand Tucker.

This is another one of those DVD's I'd seen in the library for quite some time that looked interesting and never got around to watching, until recently. Steve Martin turned in to a decent actor and on his merit did I check out this film, which is based on Martin's own novella.

PLOT SUMMARY: The story follows Mirabelle, a disenchanted salesgirl and aspiring artist who sells gloves and accessories at Saks 5^th Avenue in Los Angeles. She has two men in her life: clueless, penniless and socially inept Jeremy (Schwartzman) whom she meets in a laundromat late one night and wealthy divorcee Ray Porter (Martin) whom she sells a pair of gloves to. Lonely and bored, Mirabelle goes on a date with Jeremy and they end up sleeping together. Later she discovers a package at her door - the gloves she sold to Porter, who asks her to dinner. Ray has made it clear though that he is only interested in a fling with Mirabelle. Despite that warning, Mirabelle eventually falls in love with Ray, and her lonely existence becomes a thing of the past. At the same time, Jeremy becomes friends with the members of a rock band and travels on the road with them for months, trying to find himself and his purpose. Fate takes a hand and Mirabelle and a transformed Jeremy meet in New York, where she realizes that she still has an attraction for him.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE: Claire Danes performance keeps this movie from being a total drag. The only really amusing character in this film is Lisa the Saks perfume salesgirl (Wilson-Sampras) who is a blond bombshell that envies Mirabelle's relationships and seduces poor Jeremy, thinking he is the rich Porter. Oops.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE ABOUT THIS MOVIE: Pretty much everything. The story is boring and uneventful, and plods along for the entirety of the film. The two men in Mirabelle's life are total opposites and equally unappealing. In my opinion it's unrealistic that she would fall in love with either of them. Jeremy is a loser and Porter is old enough to be Mirabelle's father.

Go rent something else. Nothing to see here.

*1/2 out of *****