ChickLit (2016)
2/10
Good premise, poorly executed
22 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I watched this film based on it's tag line. It was a good premise, but the acting wasn't great and it was a little ham-fisted.

Plot: several literary types (a gay book shop owner, an English professor, a local reporter and a publican) band together to write mummy-porn. They do so to save the local pub.

*spoilers*; obviously they suddenly need to have a female author. Now this could have been a ripe area for exploration. Whenever a woman has needed a male front-man to sell something there's some exploration of bias and sexism in the industry. But that's not even acknowledged.

Then there's the front-woman. A struggling actress. So they set her up with fame and fortune and all she has to do is 'act'. But apparently that's too taxing for an actress and she is portrayed as the victim. She is cruel to them, betrays their trust and then tries to financially screw them.

In the final scene, she doesn't even apologize but is given a job in the saved pub.

It could have been really fun. Like a literary Full Monty. But each step was ham-fisted and obvious. The actress was totally unsympathetic and the four authors were continuously dumped on. It was great to see the gay book store owners, but even that was a little rough. It would have been nice to explore the differences between male and female tastes, particularly as some of the authors were so unfamiliar with the genre.

Disappointing.
12 out of 17 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed