With Woody Allen "trying something new" of late and Edward Burns... actually I don’t know what’s happened to Edward Burns these days, there’s been a gap in the market for sharp, witty, irreverent, strangely honest New York storytelling. Luckily for us, the niche has been welcomely and successfully filled by Noah Baumach along with his co-collaborator and muse Greta Gerwig in their latest offering, ‘Mistress America’.
Brooke (Gerwig) is everything you want to be but glad you aren’t at the same time. She’s an interior decorator, a spin instructor, an avid tweeter and currently a wannabe restauranteur who thinks living in Times Square is cool. Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a fresh off the bus wannabe writer/college freshman who's finding New York lonely and dull until she’s encouraged to call her soon-to-be step-sister Brooke. When Brooke shows Tracy the New York night of her life, Tracy quickly becomes enamoured with her new sibling and also finds herself with a hot new protagonist for her latest pros. But when Brooke suddenly finds herself down an investor for her new restaurant, the pair (and a few others) have a once in a lifetime experience to track down an old flame, a current enemy and hopefully the money she needs to make today’s dream come true.
'MISTRESS AMERICA' TRAILER 2
Baumach is brilliant, Gerwig is fantastic, and together they’re the perfect match. Sitting through one of their films, you curse yourself that you didn’t bring a pen to write down all the fabulous and hilarious offerings from their scripts.
Okay, so there aren’t vast differences between the characters Greta plays but hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I, personally, can’t get enough of her. In 'Mistress America', Brooke moves through life so fast she never gives herself the time to stop and realise she’s actually failing. I envy that ability. Newcomer Kirke is a chameleon and a future acting force to be reckoned with. She’s the perfect mouse to Gerwig's tiger and together they sparkle on screen.