'GIRL MOST LIKELY': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Kristen Wiig stars in this comedy film directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (the team behind the Harvey Pekar biography comedy film 'AMERICAN SPLENDOR'). It was written by Michelle Morgan and co-stars Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, Christopher Fitzgerald and Darren Criss. Wiig plays a New York playwright who's fallen on hard times and fakes her suicide in order to try and win her ex-boyfriend back. She instead ends up having to move back home with her mother and little brother. The movie got mostly negative reviews and didn't receive a wide theatrical release but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The film was originally titled 'Imogene', which is the name of Wiig's character. Imogene was an up and coming New York playwright who's career went nowhere quickly and she ends up losing her job and her boyfriend, Peter (Brian Petsos),at the same time. In an attempt to win Peter back she stages her suicide but is instead ordered to move back in with her mother, Zelda (Bening),and younger brother, Ralph (Fitzgerald),temporarily. Once home she finds her mother is also living with a man claiming to be a secret agent (Dillon),who she's also hooking up with, and a young man named Lee (Criss),who rented out her old room. Things just get more crazy from there as she attempts to get her life back on track.

The film was very nicely directed and the script is clever and smart. I found all the characters to be likable and oddly enjoyable as well as adequately developed. Wiig is a good leading lady and I enjoy her in films like this much more than something like 'BRIDESMAIDS'. Criss and Fitzgerald (who plays a character which seems like it was written for Zach Galifianakis) both stand out in the movie as well and Bening and Dillon are also hilarious in it. The movie is just a really quirky and funny heartfelt film. I'm not sure why it hasn't gotten better recognition but it's definitely one worth seeing.

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Yeah wow, been there. This poor girl, if only she had family in the CIA, or an incredible safety suit. This is a good movie, don't come expecting a laugh a minute, or to be rolling around the floor, this is more of a girl interrupted 20 years too late kind of deal. Matt Dillon again, and not Kevin, so you can again add a point in the plus column. Really a great cast from New York, all the way back home to Jersey. If you like Kristen Wiig, then you will love this for a lot of reasons, she plays her character that she has pretty much perfected, like a Newhart for the broken hearts. I would swear to you that Annette Bening has met my Mother at some time, and was channeling her from the 80's. Enjoy.

Imogene is having a bad day: out of place among the New York social climbers she hangs out with, dumped by her boy friend and losing her job, a phony suicide attempt sees her released into the "care" of her quirky and flawed mother, and reduced to sleeping on the floor at Mom's house in Jersey. Finding herself on a quest with her very strange brother to search out the father she had always been told was dead, she may actually be on the road to reclaiming her life.

Billed as a comedy, but actually a small-scale domestic drama leavened with humour, this odd little indie stars Kristen Wiig as the (initially) hapless Imogene. Ms Wiig impresses me more with every movie I see her in - her attractive but worn everywoman persona hides an impressive talent. Annette Bening is also good as the Mom who isn't as bad as reports would have you believe. There seems to be a school of opinion which likes Christopher Fitzgerald as quirky Ralph: I found the character to unbelievable to warm to, and Fitgerald in the role struck me as Zack Galifianikis-lite.

The film overall is wildly implausible in almost every respect: it is a tribute to Wiig that she (almost) has you believing it, and certainly has you rooting for her character despite the loser-ish qualities she displays at the start.

I quite enjoyed this - it has a feelgood element to it which pleased me.