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Year: 2018
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
A day in the life of the employees and general manager of a sports grill called Double Whammies.
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| "How many times can you fire a lady before she gets the message?" (Image Source) |
Remember that song from a few years ago called "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter? It ain't got nothing on Lisa's seemingly atrocious week. "Support the Girls" (2018) is written and directed by Andrew Bujalski, who has also written and directed numerous little-seen films like "Results" (2015), "Computer Chess" (2013) and "Beeswax" (2009). This film tells the story of a woman named Lisa (Regina Hall), who is the general manager at Hooters-style sports bar and grill called Double Whammies. Just like Hooters, they specialize in burgers, beer, buffalo wings, all served by a staff of scantily clad waitresses while the customers hoot and holler at the television. Lisa is the kind of manager who treats her staff like family and goes above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to the ladies who work for her. When it comes to her unassuming but belligerent boss, however, she doesn't always do things by-the-book, which may land her in some trouble, especially on this particularly bad day.
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| "I can take fucking up all day, but I can't take not trying." (Image Source) |
Marketed as a comedy, "Support the Girls" (2018) has its fleeting moments of honesty with twinges of humor, but it's more of a slice-of-life piece about a woman who has had a really, really shitty day at work. Lisa spends her time dealing with her employees' problems and drama, so much so that it actually starts to interfere with the job she has to do. Things go from bad to worse as Lisa is forced to confront people and situations in more ways than one on this increasingly awful day. There really isn't really a whole lot there in terms of its story since it's a simple "day in the life" character sketch. It can also feel a bit disjointed at times. Unfortunately, since most of the characters aren't well developed, we hardly connected with any of them even if we empathize with their situation/s. BigJ felt apathetic about the characters and felt like the screenplay was lacking emotion. I was able to commiserate and identify with some of the issues these women face throughout the film, but it still felt a little too melodramatic at times (is that terrible to say? sorry!). We were both able to appreciate the commentary on how men treat women who work in this type of job. Despite all of these issues, we both think that Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, and Shayna McHayle o a fantastic job in their roles. In fact, Richardson's energy can be contagious, and Hall gives another performance that continues to prove why she is such a fabulous actress.
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| "I don't really need you to love every little thing about it, I just need you to do your job." (Image Source) |
BigJ and I differ slightly on our overall assessment of "Support the Girls" (2018). I wasn't as annoyed with it as he was. He found it to be a bit of a slog to get through and didn't care about anything that happened. I thought the talent was excellent, but the script they had to work with was lackluster. This is not a bad movie, but it doesn't feel totally realized and doesn't ever reach its full potential. It's another indie drama that will probably only appeal to a very niche audience who value reflective realism above anything else.
BigJ's Rating: 5/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.5/10
RT Rating: 93%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
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