Movie Review: In a World…
In A World… is a charming, meta comedy about a subculture of unexpectedly vain performers: voice over artists. The film marks the directorial debut of Lake Bell who also wrote the movie’s screenplay and stars as Carol, its protagonist.
Carol not only fights the odds to make it in the male-dominated world of voice work, but she also struggles to escape her father’s massive shadow. Sam (Fred Melamed) is a respected voice actor who has trouble sharing the spotlight, so he doesn’t support his daughter’s efforts. What he and all the other arrogant performers don’t realize though is that Carol is about to knock them out of their comfort zone with her vocal abilities. A chance audition leads to one gig after another, and pretty soon Carol has a shot at a major opportunity that could make history, if she can beat out her father and his sleazy prodigy Gustav (Ken Marino).
In A World… is a great feminist film because it uses the narrative to deliver messages about equality and empowerment without ever being too obvious or getting preachy. It’s also a delight to watch since Bell has assembled a talented ensemble that includes Rob Corddry, Makaela Watkins, Demitri Martin, Nick Offerman, and Tig Notaro. These actors give genuine performances and have fantastic chemistry whenever they’re on screen together, which translates into lots of laughs.
The only real issue with Bell’s film is that her main character is the least accessible of the bunch. You don’t get a chance to know her particularly well, and that prevents you from really engaging with her. Much of her success is portrayed as accidental too, which doesn’t jive with the movie’s feminist messages. Maybe her good fortune is intended to show that in Hollywood there are often outside forces determining your fate. While being in the right place at the right time is a definitely factor, hard work should have been there as well to make Carol more relatable and endearing.
✭✭✭✭
