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In a World...

5/10

Stars: Lake Bell, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed, Nick Offerman, Alexandra Holden, Demetri Martin, Michaela Watkins, Rob Corddry, Tig Notaro

Director: Lake Bell

A wordy comedy about voice-over actors, specifically those providing the portentous tones we hear in today's movie trailers - written and directed by its female star, the deep-eyebrowed Lake Bell.

Kicked out of the house at 31 by her (voice-over king) father (Melamed), Carol (Bell) shacks up with her sister (Watkins), but soon finds herself in competition with both her lover (Marino) and father for the coveted trailer-narration of a quadrilogy of films that resemble a stone-age version of The Hunger Games.

Although some bright lines keep things jogging along, this is sadly a film without any potential audience, but hopefully a calling card for an obviously talented actress-director who will surely make more audience-friendly things in the future. Keep watching, though, for guest appearances by Geena Davis, Eva Longoria, Talulah Riley, Jeff Garlin and Cameron Diaz.

There is no copyright date on this film.

David Quinlan

USA 2012. UK Distributor: Sony. Colour (unspecified).
93 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 08 Sep 2013