I expected a little more out of this movie, so for awhile I was more than a little disappointed by it- especially given the fact that we followed this movie up with Prisoners- which grabbed my attention and held it all the way through. But, the more I thought about this movie- the more I let it digest, the more I came to realize that it wasn't that bad- after all- and for a screenwriting and directorial debut from it's star, Lake Bell, it was actually really, really good and showed a lot of promise, to be quite honest about it.
The story of Carol Solomon (Lake Bell) whose father, Sam Soto (Fred Melamed) is retiring after a long career in the movie voice over business, In A World... is a charming, quirky look at a corner of Hollywood that I think a lot of people overlook. (I know, I overlook it- I mean, when watching a movie trailer, you tend to focus on what's in the trailer rather than the voice narrating it.) A vocal coach, Carol struggles with her overbearing father and her own ambitions to break into the movie voice over business- a business that's very, very male dominated.
At the start of the movie, Sam kicks Carol out of the house, so he can live with his 30 year old girlfriend and Carol moves in with her sister Dani and her husband Moe (Rob Corddry)- when an upcoming film series The Amazon Games seeks to bring back to the tagline made famous by Dan LaFontaine, 'In a world...' the trailer voice-over becomes highly sought after. Sam bows out to let his 'heir apparent' Gustav (Ken Marino) have his shot at trailer glory, but when he doesn't show because he's got a sore throat, Carol steps in to record a temp track and ends up getting the job- unbeknownst to either Sam or Gustav.
Reluctantly, Carol accompanies her father to a party at Gustav's house, where they end up sleeping together- but even after discovering that Carol is the women 'taking his jobs' he still doesn't take her seriously as a voice over artist. Eventually, despite a fight with their father, both sisters and husband Moe head to the awards dinner where their father Sam is scheduled to receive a lifetime achievement award for his work in the industry and where the hot new trailer for The Amazon Games is unveiled with Carol beating out her father and Gustav to become the voice that brings back the famous line... 'In a world...'
Carol is thrilled by the success and looking forward to more opportunities but when she is bluntly told by the executive producer that it wasn't her talent that got her there but rather the fact that she was a woman and they liked what that represented for their movie. In the end, Carol perseveres with her career as a vocal coach, helping women to change their vocal patterns so they can be taken more seriously.
Overall: The more I thought about it, the more this movie really grew on me. I'm not sure what I was expecting it to be- I think I was expecting it to be more 'laugh out loud' funny, but really the comedy isn't that straightforward. It's the quirky characters and the odd family and the wry sense of humor that run through that make it work- and interesting and compelling points about the barriers women can face in the workplace to be taken seriously- no matter what job they're in. A compelling, interesting debut from Lake Bell. I can't wait to see more. *** out of ****
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