Some Girls Review
By David Kempler
She'd Rather Be Without Him
Daisy von Scherler Mayer has spent the bulk of her career directing television episodes of various shows. With "Some Girl(s)", she is expanding onto bigger screens. Based on the play by Neil LaBute (who also adapted the screenplay), it is an examination of a successful writer in his thirties, traveling around the country, ostensibly to make peace with a multitude of women that may feel wronged by his having left them at some point. Adam Brody is the man (the credit in the film lists his character simply as Man).
The first woman he meets with is Sam (Jennifer Morrison), his high school sweetheart that he dumped. He had told her that he was in love with her and then crushed her by leaving. She never understood why he left and she is still damaged by it despite her now being married. Their interactions set the stage for the other ladies he will later confront. We feel sorry for both of them and even somewhat admire his fortitude for how he is facing up to his shortcomings.
His travels across the country then take him to more women who feel various degrees of abandonment that range from bitterness to apathy. With each meeting we learn a little bit more about him, and the more we learn, the more we are confused, until it hits a point where everything starts falling into place.
For the first half-hour, I was thoroughly bored. As the inner workings of Man are revealed I found myself falling in and out of a state of caring and not caring. "Some Girl(s)" eventually reveals all we need to know and the point is that we understand Man far better than he understands himself. Unfortunately, that is not nearly enough to carry the day. Rather than engendering any meaningful emotions from the audience, all we can manage is mild surprise followed again by an overwhelming onset of ennui. In the end, I suppose we are supposed to appreciate this
marvelous insight into Man. It's really not all that marvelous. It's more like watching a high-school kid discover something that billions before him have already discovered.
