Judging by the trailer, In a World is a pretty funny comedy. But as with a lot of trailers, this is managed by cramming it with all the movie's funniest lines. So while the trailer has five or six really solid laughs, the same can be said for the movie, which for the most part is generally humorous but not terribly funny.
The film does have several things going for it. The idea of taking a peek at a niche part of the film business is a fun idea. Dmitri Martin's inability to ask the girl he likes out is clumsily charming. Lake Bell is quite likable.
There are also a few issues I would take with the structure, which feels a bit too lose, with subplots that don't seem to really support the story and aren't especially interesting on their own. And at the end, the movie seems to search around desperately for a moral and come up with the idea of female empowerment, which, even though that is one of the movie's threads,feels like it just went from a minor theme to *the* MAJOR THEME without proper preparation.
None of that is really a big deal; this is the work of a young, talented filmmaker who hasn't totally learned her craft, but it's still original and pleasant. It's just not funny enough or compelling enough to be more than something cute and forgettable.
The film does have several things going for it. The idea of taking a peek at a niche part of the film business is a fun idea. Dmitri Martin's inability to ask the girl he likes out is clumsily charming. Lake Bell is quite likable.
There are also a few issues I would take with the structure, which feels a bit too lose, with subplots that don't seem to really support the story and aren't especially interesting on their own. And at the end, the movie seems to search around desperately for a moral and come up with the idea of female empowerment, which, even though that is one of the movie's threads,feels like it just went from a minor theme to *the* MAJOR THEME without proper preparation.
None of that is really a big deal; this is the work of a young, talented filmmaker who hasn't totally learned her craft, but it's still original and pleasant. It's just not funny enough or compelling enough to be more than something cute and forgettable.