Shopgirl

Aiming for a Lost In Translation vibe, this adaptation of a Steve Martin novella replaces Scarlett Johansson with Claire Danes and Bill Murray with Martin himself. It comes from Anand Tucker, the director of Hilary and Jackie, and attempts to transcend its May to December romance from Mills & Boon into a potential awards contender.

Mirabelle (Claire Danes) is a shopgirl. Working on the glove counter in a high-profile department store and then creating pieces of art at night, she leads a lonely existence. But her life takes a dramatic change when two completely different men enter her desolate life. First there is the flaky Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) who fumbles with the rules of dating and leaves Mirabelle unimpressed. Then there is the rich, older Ray (Steve Martin) who showers Mirabelle with gifts and expensive meals. She is in awe of their burgeoning relationship but Ray has other ideas of what he believes their relationship is.

The biggest problem with Shopgirl is Steve Martin. Seeing as he wrote the source material and was the same age as its male lead, it obviously seemed a shoe-in that he would star in the film adaptation. But he is terribly miscast in the role. He struggles with the dramatic elements of the film and doesn't pull off the slick and suave businessman persona. It's never clear what Mirabelle would see in him. On the other hand, Schwartzman is perfectly cast.

Jeremy is the antithesis to Ray, both the character and the performance. While Martin is smug and boring, Schwartzman is energetic and alive. The initial date between him and Danes is hilarious and their attempts at a romantic night in is one of the funniest scenes of the year. It's a great shame then that Jeremy is then sent on a road trip throughout most of the film and we then see very little of him. The film instead focuses on Mirabelle and Ray, a shallow and uninteresting relationship.

Claire Danes is good as Mirabelle and adds a much needed depth to her character. But her plight does at times feels like it belongs in the daytime TV movie about the girl who falls in love with the older man. The direction does offset this as does the score as both give us this bizarre feeling that we are watching something incredibly profound and heartfelt. The film picks up near the end when Schwartzman arrives back on the scene but it only serves to remind you how much you would rather have seen a film about his relationship with Danes.

Shopgirl isn't a bad movie. It's well made and mostly well acted. But in stretching out a novella into a full-length movie, it sometimes feels the strain. What is essentially the basis for a cheap romantic novel is treated like it is an earnest and important drama. It's probably best appreciated as a matinee movie on TV one rainy afternoon. Lost in Translation it isn't.

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