[yasr_overall_rating]
Nina Geld is a bracingly funny and blisteringly provocative stand-up comedian whose career is taking off, but whose personal life is a near-complete disaster. To escape a difficult ex and to prepare for a prospectively life-changing audition, Nina flees to Los Angeles where she meets Rafe, who challenges almost every preconception she has – including those around her own deeply troubled past.
For a movie about a comedian, there is little humor in Eva Vives’ film, “All about Nina.” The premise is about putting the truth out there but the truth should be handled delicately and this movie does not handle with care. Nina (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a girl with a harsh past trying to break into the comedy world instead of just performing at little hole in the wall clubs. She is used to the scene, even has a routine beyond her performance: leave the stage, puke, pick up a random guy, and have sex with no emotional attachment.
Nina’s caustic, feministic views on life leave little room for love with a man, heck her last name is even Geld and emotionally castrating men ranks high on her favorite activities. Her married, cop boyfriend does little to help change her views as he shows up to beat her one last time, which helps her to run away to LA. She moves in with a free-spirited Hippy, Lake (Kate del Castillo), while working with her agent for a chance at a spot for her own show on Comedy Prime. Nina plays at a club in LA while waiting for word from her agent about an interview with Comedy Prime and meets a new guy, Rafe (Common), an older divorcée who creeps into her head. Rafe is everything she is not looking for, interested, solid, funny, and looking for the real deal. Nina doesn’t know how to do the real deal but strings him along anyway, out of morbid curiosity. Nina displays a small amount of humanity by having a panic attack over her heart’s reaction to this new man who worms into her Grinch heart and tries to help it grow three times its size.
Before long, her corrosive tendencies explode over everyone, spurred on by a visit from her ex-boyfriend, some puking, and too much drinking. No surprise there. Before moving, Nina stops to visit her mother as if the writer was trying to prove someone could love this so unbelievably unlikable woman. Love is one thing, there is doubt whether her mother approves of her lifestyle or choices. After angering Rafe, ex-cop boyfriend, a few strangers, and several strangers, Nina even ticks off Lake, the woman who took her in and communicates with the dead while drinking mushroom tea. Nina’s funny impressions do, however, impress Comedy Prime, and they call her, along with a few other female comedians, in for an audition, which she wins before she ticks off fellow comedians and then pukes again, because why not pay a ton of money for a movie to watch them puke repeatedly?
By the end of the film, Nina angers a lot more people, including the producer at Comedy Prime, but not before spilling her guts, this time emotional – she only pukes offstage, laying her history out to bare for all to see. The reasons for Nina’s complete inability to have any redeeming qualities or forge a lasting human relationship are out in the open. Her hardcore feminist tendencies stem from something much deeper, and at least feminists hate men too, an easy bandwagon to jump on.
The movie touches on honesty like a broken record, like tack is something old left in the past for previous generations and blunt honesty may be painful but at least it is the truth and perfect for this new generation that sleeps around and only focuses on their wants and needs. I hated the movie, I was planning to give it no stars until the end. The characters, not just Nina – I think my opinions of her are noticeable – but also the supposed “nice guy” Rafe, the fruitcake Lake and her lover are all over the top and unbelievable, although the actors do a fantastic job working with what they have. The ending changed my opinion, but still, I think the movie could have been handled with more diplomacy, which goes against the point, but the old-fashioned will not appreciate the brutal assault on their senses, even when the reason for Nina’s flaws come to light.
In theaters Friday, September 28th
