Lola Versus (2012)

Dumped by her boyfriend just three weeks before their wedding, Lola enlists her close friends for a series of adventures she hopes will help her come to terms with approaching 30 as a single woman.

Director:

Daryl Wein

Writers:

Daryl Wein (screenplay), Zoe Lister Jones (screenplay)

Stars:

Greta Gerwig, Joel Kinnaman, Zoe Lister Jones

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Greta Gerwig	...	Lola
Joel Kinnaman	...	Luke
Zoe Lister Jones	...	Alice
Hamish Linklater	...	Henry
Bill Pullman	...	Lenny
Debra Winger	...	Robin
Maria Dizzia	...	Woman Subletter
Jonathan Sale	...	Fantasy Bar Guy
Ebon Moss-Bachrach	...	Nick
Adriane Lenox	...	Professor
Ray Iannicelli	...	Man at Restaurant
Kathryn Kates	...	Woman at Restaurant
Jay Pharoah	...	Randy
Cheyenne Jackson	...	Roger
Kena Onyenjekwe	...	Henry's Band

Storyline

Lola (Greta Gerwig) is 29 years-old and is happily engaged to her perfect man, Luke (Joel Kinnaman). But just three weeks before her big day, Luke calls it off, and Lola is forced to re-group as she cancels the wedding. While struggling to find happiness through sexual flings with her best friend, first dates with strangers, and attempts at re-connecting with her ex-fiancé, Lola realizes she's going to have to find herself first before she can find love and happiness.

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Plot Keywords:

two word title | name in title | versus in title | character name in title

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Taglines:

Lola vs. Sex, Love, Lola, The World.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, sexuality and drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lola

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$31,815 (USA) (8 June 2012)

Gross:

$251,913 (USA) (6 July 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Groundswell Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Orlando Bloom was originally cast in the lead role but dropped out before filming began.

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Soundtracks

"My Puny Is Alive (Inside)"
Performed by The Fruhstucks
Written by Sutja Gutiérrez and Miguel Camara
Courtesy of Racecar

User Reviews

The new generation of girls who don't have anything better to do than complain about love, sex, life and sex again

Lola (Greta Gerwig) has a hard time finding her place in the world. So does the film. What starts out as a romantic comedy-styled drama, turns into a sex comedy, and then tries to find its way as a character study. But the character of Lola will turn off some before the film gets going and bore others who have already solved her life's problems.

It has taken me a long time to warm up to Gerwig but she's surprisingly cute and likable here despite how narcissistic, self-destructive, self-involved, and sullen Lola can be. The opening of the film sees Lola in love, Lola getting engaged, and then Lola getting dumped just three weeks before the wedding.

Cancelling a wedding to a man you were in love with after everything is paid for, would be torture to go through. But Lola didn't have to do that. Lola's mother (Debra Winger) cancelled the wedding for her while she cried in bed. Lola's mother and father (Bill Pullman) were likely the highlights of the film as I did laugh at the majority of their lines.

The writing isn't bad. As the film ventures into sex comedy territory, the writers were going for bold, catchy lines. I disagree with the point of being quotable just for the sake of being quotable, and there are way too many examples of that in this film, but some are funny and some will likely resonate with the target audience.

The target audience is not the 29-to-30 year-olds who are trying to find their place in this world. "Lola Versus" is meant for the mid-twenty-somethings who watch the HBO series "Girls" in between their meaningless, hate-filled sexual flings and their self-loathing obsessions about not having a career. For the majority of the film, that is what Lola and her friends are like. Lola describes herself as a "slutty but good person". Her best friend Alice is even worse who makes jokes about oxycodone giving her orgasms.

Her ex-fiancé, her best friend-turned-boyfriend and her potential suitor were decent characters played by decent actors. Joel Kinnaman as the ex-fiancé Luke wasn't given much to do, which is a good thing for the film, as otherwise we probably would have sided with him instead of Lola.

Lola came to some decent, if unimpressive, observations by the end of the film, that it probably would have served them better if "Lola Versus" was meant as a character study all along. But as is you have to suffer through a lot of moaning which most young heroines are too smart for.