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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

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.

---

Soundtracks

"Would You Take It"
Performed by Vex Ruffin
Written by Ryan Afrika
Courtesy of Boulder Heave
Under license from Stones Throw Records
By arrangement with Lip Sync Music, Inc.

User Reviews

Breaking up is hard to do.

"I learned everything I know about being a woman from 90210." Lola (Greta Gerwig)

To watch Greta Gerwig play the eponymous Lola dealing with the cancellation of her wedding 3 weeks before the event by her cold-footed boyfriend, Luke (Joel Kinneman), is to watch a young, already accomplished actress deftly play a doctoral student navigating the emotional potholes of breaking up.

Gerwig is worth the watching while the rest of the film meanders in and out of almost-unconnected episodes with some wit and some clichés. She is so convincingly lost among the ruins of her life that she is believable even when the setups are not. Indeed, it's Gerwig who propels the film, not the uneven scrip of director Daryl Wein and his collaborator, Zoe Lister-Jones.

The film is punctuated by make-up, casual, and silly sex as she finds her way out of depression. To help her is the usual rom-com girlfriend, Alice (Lister-Jones), whose wisecracking ("I gotta go wash my Vagina") helps add comic relief to Lola's melancholic life.

Amid Lola's experimentation with her ex's best friend, Henry (Hamish Linklater), and a pickup, Nick (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), at a fish store are random thoughts about finding the right love or going back to the old love. It's a rather tedious conflict that could be rehashed from some soap and not reflective of HBO's gritty "Girls," if I hear right about the TV sitcom.

It's not that Lola Versus is unreal; on the contrary it is an authentic take on the vagaries of breaking up. However, with as few witty lines and imaginative encounters, it doesn't elevate the argument or provide insight into the anguish and remedies that usually accompany a study of this universal experience.

I would much rather have explored the interesting lives of Lola's loose parents (Lenny and Robin, played by Bill Pullman and Debra Winger) or the challenges of her dissertation on silence in novels. Maybe that's what Lola Versus needs—silence.