Gone Shopping

From its first frame, Shopgirl announces itself as sort of an elegant, high-minded — but pompous — filmed version of one of Steve Martin's literary works. In fact, it's one of the oddest films I've seen all year, and not the film I expected it to be based on the tv and print ads I've seen. Martin himself plays a character who isn't as compelling as he's supposed to be, and Jason Schwartzman (so good in Rushmore, but not as good in much else since) brings the film to life — then disappears for most of it. (Huh?) And Claire Danes is so plain looking — and acting — that you can't quite understand why Martin's character would find her so appealing. Still, Schwartzman's performance is fun, and the film does have high aspirations that I'll assume just went over my head. And Martin, who also wrote the screenplay, has included some pretty great lines of dialogue that come up unexpectedly, such as one that Danes says close to the end of the film that I can't quote here for fear of ruining it for folks who haven't seen the film yet. So in summary, I'll give Shopgirl the benefit of the doubt and rate it a B–.