Directed by Lake Bell
(R)
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“To find a leading role worthy of her gifts,” Lake Bell apparently had to create one herself, said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. Playing an aspiring voice-over artist in a quietly smart comedy that she wrote and directed, the marginally famous rom-com veteran carries the picture by managing “a perfect blend of diffidence, goofiness, and charm.” Bell’s Carol is a 30-year-old underachiever who hasn’t given up her dream of voicing movie trailers—just like her egomaniacal father. As she competes against a veritable boys club for a plum gig, the film proves especially good on a crucial theme—“what makes women desire success, and what prevents them from getting it,” said Stephanie Zacharek in The Village Voice. The screwball-style dialogue routinely dazzles, “taking unexpected loops, like puppies scrambling over one another in a basket.” Along the way, Bell “expertly skewers sexism and anti-Hollywood snobbiness,” said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post.Her script delivers ample laughs, and its “sharply observant streak” makes it “as nourishing as it is endearingly nutty.”
-
Australia’s teen social media ban takes effectSpeed Read Kids under age 16 are now barred from platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Reddit
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
