Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Fred Melamed
Director: Lake Bell
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
Official Website: Here
Editor’s Notes: In a World… is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Special Features include: Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, and Gag Reel.
…where vocal training comedy means make or break. One woman must face up to her abilities and tackle an entire industry head on. Director, writer and star Lake Bell is the woman in question. Her comedy feature offering marks her as detrimentally different to her contemporaries. The likes of Lena Dunham and Rashida Jones have given the film industry a run for its money recently with their unrivalled successes. Revolutionaries like Nora Ephron, who took the multitasking variety of the film industry by storm, are the new prototypes for innovative filmmakers making waves. Lake Bell is one of the incredibly few actress/models that divert their careers in the direction they want to take them in. In a World… is entertaining, hilarious, charismatic and one of a kind, more than the trailer lets on.
The representation of the voice over community is brilliant. It’s definitely set up as a similarity to the industry format of the actors of the film industry and their lifestyles that audiences are used to in terms of celebrity culture.
Carol, a female vocal coach faces unfamiliar territory when her rather down and out predicament of not being an achiever brings her to the conclusion that she can do more. Her happy go lucky living attitudes are uplifting but don’t match how those around her view her lifestyle choices. Working part time and just really bumbling along, she suddenly decides to show everyone she can be an achiever. When she takes on her father and his protégé in the film trailer voice over business she gets more than she bargained for.
Fred Melamed plays her father Sam, in a completely believable performance of a stuck up artist that can’t see past his own nose. His daughter’s attempts to prove her validity only push his opinions further and of course to comical effect. Enjoying a high rolling lifestyle expected of a rock star comes as second nature to this award winning voice over actor. A challenge is something he’s not used to and as conveyed perfectly by Fred Melamed’s wonderfully naturalistic expression palette it proves to be revenge worthy of the greatest comical effect.
The representation of the voice over community is brilliant. It’s definitely set up as a similarity to the industry format of the actors of the film industry and their lifestyles that audiences are used to in terms of celebrity culture. The natural transgression to understanding how the industry operates is very swift because of how it’s aligned with film actor scenario. Audiences won’t even notice this aspect as it’s so fluid and naturally written into the dialogues between the characters and the situations they find themselves in.
The performances and the writing of the narrative are what make In a World… so unpredictably unique and genuinely funny.
The performances and the writing of the narrative are what make In a World… so unpredictably unique and genuinely funny. The smaller characters that surround the protagonist are in part stereotypes of industry professionals and slightly over the top in reactions. The wit of the script lies in the timing and the responses of the characters. Situation drama lapses into fantastically easy watching sitcom style. You feel like you’ve been watching these characters on a regular basis very quickly and the familiarity of their personal quips becomes rapidly immersive.
As a bit of an underdog, Carol’s story becomes a really effective as underachiever to admired successful career woman narrative. She’s trying her best to muddle through the strange characters and industry world around her, eventually giving way to accomplishing more than she could imagine. It’s the best comedy I saw on release last year and contains enough chuckle-worthy moments to command a revisiting on DVD/BLU.
[notification type=”star”]70/100 ~ GOOD. Lake Bell is one of the incredibly few actress/models that divert their careers in the direction they want to take them in. In a World… is entertaining, hilarious, charismatic and one of a kind, more than the trailer lets on.[/notification]
