Damsels in Distress (2012)

Overrated

A Brilliant Conflict

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

A remake of Clueless (1995) à la Whit Stillman but set in college rather than High School. No wonder that the movie after this one finds Stillman taking on a direct version of Jane Austen in Love & Friendship (2016) rather than a modern remake of Austen's Emma via Clueless. In this version of Emma we find the Cher role of Violet filled by Greta Gerwig in a similar almost panic mode at times, either over boys or fear of not being perfectly "good" enough. The Dionne role is filled by lookalike Megalyn Echikunwoke, who as in Clueless plays the more cynical and wiser sidekick to Violet. The Tai role who joins Violet's gaggle of gals whom like Cher is intent on educating her to their wise ways, is played by the more down to earth (like Tai) Analeigh Tipton who in no short order (as Brittany Murphy as Tai did in Clueless) causes boy problems for Violet as they become frenemies to some degree. The Paul Rudd character in Clueless is played by Adam Brody, and so on. An inside joke between the two movies is how both Greta and Adam Brody's characters are both exposed as using fake names for themselves. How does this stack up to Clueless? While Clueless is of course much better known as a classic modern comedy which made stars of a few of the actors, it is also more romantic than Damsels which is less focused on the romance of the lead characters. Damsels is of course first and foremost a Whit Stillman movie, which is like saying a Woody Allen movie since both have such unique comedic styles and voices. If you are unfamiliar with his oeuvre, well it is not really something you can understand through a description although my best attempt would be: imagine a Woody Allen movie made by a preppie WASP. Is it a good movie? I've seen some people disparage the film while calling themselves fans of Stillman's earlier work. I don't understand why they don't enjoy this one as well. It may be a slighter work in one sense, or maybe just less of a story or less convoluted, but it is also I think, funnier. It is I guess in that way like Stardust Memories, which to me is immensely funny, but not as well liked by many of Woody Allen's fans.

-Violet had awkward stilted delivery, felt like somebody more experienced/better trained should have had the role, and yes I understand the character was written to sound whimsical what im saying is she sounds like her actor is trying for whimsical but instead conveys awkwardness -production quality was weak. -shitty soft focus was a stylistic choice but it just came across as an ameteur ass film school student gimick/crutch. -first 30 minutes of the movie felt completely disjointed and directionless with vague characterization. -you can tell whoever shot this must have really had a thing quirky witty college movies, but their execution falls flat on its face -the writing takes weird turns into unconvincing plot devices and half baked conflict. -when the movie tried to be funny it sucked the air out of the room. -the plot didn't so much as build as lazily string itself along without any real momentum or energy. -the movie tried to be quirky and smart but it was just directionless, awkward, and film school pretentious.

I'm 72. This was a nostalgia movie for me, bringing back memories of the smart and funny and arch women from various elite colleges in the NY-New England area. Yes, people used to talk like this. We preferred a variety of humorous styles, but the arch, self-ironic, pseudo- pretentious style of this movie was a favorite.The title of the university - Seven Oaks - suggests the Seven Sisters, seven intellectually and socially elite all women's colleges that were "sisters" to the Ivy League universities. The presentation of the men suggests Dartmouth. In a way this is an inversion of the "Taming of the Shrew." The women set out to tame, civilize and domesticate the crude men. Instead both humanize each other. The men's sensibilities and perceptions are refined. The women become less defensive and pretentious and less afraid of expressing their affectionate side.The men I knew, however, were equally intelligent and wryly ironic and self-mocking. But cruder forms of humor and behavior were also appreciated.Smart young people really did used to try to "rewrite" lives, their own and those they knew. These efforts were resisted and subverted in various ways but the effort went on. Smart people can be very wrong in their perceptions of themselves and others. But, as this movie, points out, they can learn.Part of the charm of this movie is that it pokes affectionate fun at the "improvers" but actually shows their efforts succeeding, in somewhat unexpected ways. People eventually get the quirky humanity of themselves and others right.P.S. You did not need to be from a privileged family in those days to fall into rarified world of the liberal arts college. Poor boys could go to college on partial and state scholarships and summer work was normally sufficient to cover the other expenses. It was normal to graduate debt free. That freedom from debt liberated the young to "waste time" on "useless" learning, bold adventures, and experiments with self-identity. the time to be pragmatic and career oriented could come later

OK... This is a terrible movie. Please don't lose your time, seriously. Is stupid, very bad acting, and honestly, makes you angry. But,if you want to give a chance any way, do this: watch the first fifteen minutes, if you think is a stupidity, drop it. I saw this film due to the fact that critical reviews were mostly positive, and I saw the trailer and it looked good. I watched it all the way through, although at about the 15 minute mark, I came close to turning it... I wish I had. It gets worse and worse, and has no point at all. Sorry if I made any mistake, but I'm not English speaking. I did this because i'm trying to save you from a fiasco. I hope you miss only fifteen minutes top with this garbage.