In a World…

Directed by Lake Bell

(R)

****

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“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.”