In A World...

          In a time of heated debates over the role of women in the entertainment business, it's easy to get caught up in abstract yet heated debates on gender politics, with a lot of so-called feminists yelling for things that should be done (by men) to open up more space for women in the field. That notion gives me goosebumps. Women don't need men to step politely to the side so that they can reach their level, they just plow through and get where they want to be. How? By writing, directing and/or starring great movies. If those movies happen to be about independent, talented and driven women, even better. Yes, the road might be harder, but people in the entertainment business are rarely in it because they don't like challenges.
            Lake Bell does all those things - writes, directs, stars - in this little comedy gem about a struggling voice-over coach that, almost by accident, gets involved in a battle to be the new voice of a Hunger Games-esque quadrilogy, facing foes that include her own father. In the meantime she has fun and finds love, while quietly and surely succeeding in a male-dominated business. THANK YOU, Lake Bell. That's the kind of message women in the biz need to hear - even if she spells it out for us way too directly by the end of this enjoyable ride.
        The movie, however, is not a chick-flick. My husband arrived late in the game then quietly settled next to me on the couch and watched the last third of the movie, asking to watch it again (which I will, with pleasure). It's a feel-good movie with punch, another "late twenties coming of age" story with a fresh new spin on it.