"Suburban Girl" info thread, Release date: 05/24? Options

First review (made by an IMDb user):

I was unfortunate enough to see the film last night during the World Premiere. Melissa Bank, the author of the book was there (I saw her) -- and LEFT before the Q&A. And she had very good reason to. Because this film BLOWS.

I was a big fan of the book, and loved Bank's practical, observantly comic voice -- but unfortunately, two excellent, funny, subtle, and REAL short stories have been ruined by a reductive, banal, unfunny script by Marc Klein, who was also responsible for the impressively uncreative directing, and the gratuitous addition of lingering shots of nubile, scantily dressed women.

The basic problem? The love story doesn't work -- by a long shot. Alec Baldwin, who's so great in parts full of masculine anger and seething venom, is basically turned into an emasculated version of himself. The scene where he meets and captivates SMG is so poorly written, he comes off like the worst possible caricature of the sleazy older man trolling for (nearly) underage flesh. Archie Knox was eccentric, and winning -- Baldwin in the part is uncomfortable and fumblingly gross. His make out scenes with Sarah Michelle Gellar create some of the more nauseating love scenes in recent memory -- not because of the age difference, but because of the smarminess of his character and the spineless idiocy of hers.

SMG's character, which was so quietly, intently observant and incisively funny in Bank's stories, is basically a passive, reactive character in the film -- her complicated emotions about her relationship with Archie are consistently reduced by the script to, "I'm a Daddy's Girl who needs to be guided and taken care of." Gellar, who's a decent actress, emotional and sensitive, is HORRIBLY MISCAST -- she has no gravitas and doesn't exude the sort of brainy, sharp humor of Bank's main character. The sole way Klein knows how to tell us she's a "woman of substance" is by having the costumer put her in knee-length dresses against Maggie Grace's ubershort skirts. Memo to Marc: A tasteful wardrobe from Anthropologie does not a strong female character make.

It seems unlikely that this girl (Bret, she's now called, a typically slick Hollywood character name, versus the more sensible Jane of the Bank book) would attract the sort of urbane intensely literate editor Baldwin's supposed to be playing. Of course, Baldwin ISN'T playing an erudite New Yorker -- he's playing a sleazed-up lecherous one, so maybe their pairing does work.

In any case, the script is a mess, character motivations -- in particular Bret's emotional arc -- are illogical and unfulfilling, and all sense of insight is gone. It's a watered-down wanna be feature version of Sex and the City -- although without the great characters. The only thing to recommend the movie? SMG's great clothes. Still, I'd rather buy Vogue than sit through this film again. At least I'd learn something.



Do yourself a favor and watch BRIDGET JONES again, because this film blows.

Another review from imdb board:

I was at the Tribeca Film Festival and saw the premiere. I like romantic comedies, but I probably wouldn't have gone to see this one but for the fact that I'm a big Sarah Michelle Gellar fan and wanted the opportunity to see her in person. That said, I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit. As far as movies based on "chick lit" I don't think it was quite up there with Bridget Jones or The Devil Wears Prada, but it's definitely a solid movie and one that I'd recommend to any SMG fans or fans of this genre. Sarah is VERY good in the movie and Alec Baldwin is really fantastic. It's a shame his personal problems are going to overshadow his performance (more on that later) because between this and 30 Rock he's turning in some of his best peformances of his career. James Naughton turns in a sweet performance as Sarah's dad and Maggie Grace and Chris Carmack are pretty funny in relatively small roles, as are Nate Corddry and Vanessa Branch. The one who had me laughing the most, though, was Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Sarah's brother. He's only in a few short scenes, but manages to steal every one.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD: The movie basically follows Sarah's character Brett as she is a struggling associate editor at a publishing company in NY. Early in the movie she sees a picture of Alec Baldwin's character Archie in the newspaper and we learn that he's a bigshot in the publishing industry. Shortly thereafter she runs into him at an industry event where he proceeds to hit on her. Brett actually has a boyfriend (Chris Carmack) but he's been out of the country for months and, when we later meet him, he is very immature. Archie is the exact opposite; he's older and more mature and loves being around Brett as much as possible. It doesn't take Brett long to dump her boyfriend and take up with Archie.

I haven't read the bok of short stories the movie is based on, but the movie is very obviously divided into an "A" story and a "B" story, so I can only assume these were the two short stories chosen for the film. The "A" story involves Brett and Archie. The "B" story involves Brett and her relationship with her family, particularly her father. The two stories intertwine a bit at one point, but mostly the relationship between Brett and her father is used to draw parallells between her relationship with Archie. That said, the movie did a good job of establishing that Brett did NOT want Archie to become another father figure to her, which would have been the obvious way for things to go. Brett is very opposed to this idea and often worries when she thinks she may only be with Archie because he makes her feel "safe." Another plus is that, while Archie is obviously in a position to help her career, he only offers advice and never "makes a call" on her behalf as one would expect.

There is also some concern that Archie may be using Brett as a surrogate daughter, mostly because there is a small subplot about Archie being estranged from his own daughter. Before the movie began Marc Klein, the writer/director, made a joke that Alec had put a lot of peronsal things into the movie. Thus, when his character talks about his daughter and says something nasty about his ex-wife, there was a big laugh from the audience. Unfortunately, this subplot is supposed to be a serious one, but recent events made it impossible not to laugh at most of it. In particular, one scene where Archie calls his daughter and tells Brett he couldn't get in touch with her and had to leave her a message got a HUGE laugh from the audience.

Anyway, there is much more to the movie than that, but I won't say more for fear of spoiling some of the bigger plot twists. SPOILERS END

After the movie the cast and crew that were there took questions from the audience. Sarah said she took the role because she liked the book and the fact that it was a strong female character. Plus, she liked being able to come back to NY. Marc Klein talked a little about filming in the city and told one story about a guy on a motorcyle driving by during a pivotal scene and screaming "Alec *beep* Baldwin, I love you!" At the beginning, Marc also made some very sweet comments about Sarah and said that since it was his first time directing he learned a lot of things, the most important being that whatever you can do, Sarah Michelle Gellar can probably do it better! Someone also asked about the clothes in the movie, which are so nice they're practically impossible to ignore. Sarah said they were very lucky because it, though it was an independent film, they were able to get a lot of designers to lend them clothes and Sarah pulled in a favor or two from friends. Then, of course, someone asked the dreaded Alec Baldwin question. It might be a legitimate question if asked right, but unfortunately the guy in the audience asked "Did Alec tell you he was gonna scream at his daughter beforehand?" Sarah and Marc looked very annoyed and even the audience didn't seem thrilled with the question. Sarah told Marc he shouldn't even respond and Marc simply said "No comment."

I'm not sure when the movie will be released, but at the beginning Marc made a comment about a specific company hopefully distributing, so after the positive reception the movie received, it should hopefully be a done deal!

Interesting reviews

I'm not surprised that some fans of the book would have a negative reaction to the film. Isn't that always the way?

That is good news. I'm really not worried about the first reviewer b/c I am sure it was someone from IMDB who went into the movie with a negative perception in the first place. So I am still super excited. The second review made me a lot more exited. I think the film will do fine and ecspecially sine he siad it had a postive reception after it was all over. I'm just ready to read the REAL critics reviews.

I read the book. I honestly hated the writing style and could not get into the story. But even through the bad review, the main storyline seems to remain intact. And it's going to be hard to please the die hard fans of the book anyway.

I actually loved the book but it's been over a year since i last read it but it's not going to change my expectations because I have a feeling it will be a great movie.

Is Sarah going to be at the other 2 SG shows?

Another good IMDb user review

3/4

-Best Adapted Screenplay
-Best Lead Actress
-Best Supporting Actor

I missed Julie Delpy's "2 Days in Paris" to see "Girl" but I still made the right decision.

"Girl" is from screenwriter Marck Klein (Serendipity, A Good Year) who directs his script. It's about a young associate book editor (Sarah Michelle Gellar) climbing the ladder and catches the attention of a much older man and powerful book editor (Alec Baldwin) with many hidden demons.

In many ways it was like "The Devil Wears Prada" where it's about a female protagonist trying to make it big in NY and catches the attention of a big shot in the industry. It also features a great soundtrack with stellar acting all around and a witty and clever screenplay.

Gellar and Baldwin have such great chemistry together and they're perfectly cast and play their roles very well.

We had a very informative Q & A session with Marc Klein afterwards. He told us how he wanted to sidestep the cliches of such rom-coms by having the the main character a total dork "who cries while eating Haagen-Daz (spelling?) and watching 'Breakfast at Tiffany's''." Gellar's character Brett Eisenberg is NOT that girl but a very 3-D human being that anyone can relate to.

Hopefully "Girl" will be picked up by a distributor and audiences can catch this smart rom-com in theateres soon

Thats a good review. T4p

Yes, a very good review.

Thanks for posting it.

Thanks to Chaz-38 at IMDB for this:

http://photos.imageevent.com/cardodo/smg/sgpny1.wmv

It's an overview of Suburban Girl with an interview with SMG, Vanessa Branch, and Marc Klein, as well as more clips from the movie!

Good review

Suburban Girl
First-time director and accomplished screenwriter Marc Klein delivers a wonderful romantic comedy that even a guy like me, who normally hates films of the genre, enjoyed. The film stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Maggie Grace (she's dead on Lost, but she's still alive and smokin'!) and Alec Baldwin as, get this, a powerful New Yorker looking to salvage a tumultuous relationship with his daughter. Real stretch, huh?

If Woody Allen had directed it, it would have been a classic, but this one's still sure to sell and see the light of day. A few lines from Baldwin take you out of the moment, which is a shame, because he is one of the great actors of our time. He makes an eerie reference to leaving messages on his daughter's answering machine that generated a huge laugh from the audience. All in all, though, it was one of the better films I've seen on the festival circuit.


http://www.eonline.com/movies/lyonsden/det...b9-79bc70890169

Thanks to Chaz-38 at IMDB for this:

http://photos.imageevent.com/cardodo/smg/sgpny1.wmv

It's an overview of Suburban Girl with an interview with SMG, Vanessa Branch, and Marc Klein, as well as more clips from the movie!

Great clip ! I can't wait for more

i wanna know when we get critic's reviews, im so anxious to here.

Sarah video from Suburban premiere

Click on the link

http://www.searchvideo.com/?method=truveo....;userResults=10

^ Thanks for that

Thank you

Another good review:

Suburban Girl (Encounters: Drama/Romance)

Writer/Director: Marc Klein
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alec Baldwin, Chris Carmack, Maggie Grace

“He’s not my father, he’s my boyfriend; I have sex with him!”

T.S. Eliot once said that “most editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.” This quip is supposed to sooth Brett Eisenberg (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a young editor for a New York publishing powerhouse, in the film Suburban Girl.

When she’s not placing the books she edited slap dab in the front of book store windows, Brett doodles, hangs with her frisky buddy Chloe (Maggie Grace), has long phone conversations with her father and waits for calls, or at least a postcard, from her traveling boyfriend Jed (Chris Carmack). What the young woman needs is a man, and she sure finds one in Archie Knox (Alec Baldwin), a walking quote dispenser who’s an affluent, influential editor/writer who gazes at Brett like she’s prime veal.

There is early reluctance for the two to date, but once Brett effortlessly breaks ties with Jed, they sizzle into each other’s good graces. Brett’s so smitten with him that she neglects to button the upper half of her shirt on their first date (hey, it happens). As we soon learn, however, Archie has unresolved daughter issues and Brett has unresolved daddy issues, resulting in a match made in Freudian heaven.

Some might find the pairing of Gellar and Baldwin sort of, how should we say, gross. That’s the initial feeling, yet as the reel rolls on, it’s not inconceivable why these two would be drawn to each other. She’s young, filled with hope, obviously attractive and smart, even though she still talks like Buffy. She rapidly falls under his spell because he’s strong yet nurturing, suave yet sensitive and can pull more strings than a mariachi band. Although his experience does come into intimidating play when she discovers his past improprieties during an alpha chick altercation with her boss, that’s miniscule among the hurdles they face.

Suburban Girl, based on Melissa Bank’s short stories “My Old Man” and “The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine,” and adapted/directed by Marc Klein, is what happens when we grind together The Devil Wears Prada and ‘Sex And The City’ and de-spice it for the Lifetime network. This results in a pleasant enough watch, with solid performances by both Baldwin and Gellar, a snappy soundtrack and zingy one liners. It should have no problem getting pushed through mainstream theatres relatively soon. Its falling is that it wants to be more poignant than it is, which is something that should have been contemplated further in the editing room.

CinemaBlend.com

JoBlo.com positive review of Suburban Girl:

As an ambitious NYC woman, I may be impartial when confessing my admiration and attraction to this film. However, aside from its inspiring and vicarious plot, SUBURBAN GIRL’s greatest strength is its stars, Alec Baldwin and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Previously famed for his screenplay SERENDIPITY, this film is Klein’s adaptation of stories from Melissa Bank’s The Girls’ Guide to hunting and Fishing. The story is based on an aspirant junior editor Brett (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in pursuit of her dreams in the big apple. She meets and falls for big shot book editor Archie (Alec Baldwin) who eventually reveals his imperfections during their tumultuous, romantic journey. The film also stars Maggie Grace, James Naughton, and Chris Carmack among others.

I thought the script was engaging and motivating, but the film was shot in a short story format, which dragged on at times. I was especially amazed by the powerful onscreen chemistry between Baldwin and Gellar. The dialogue was witty and both actors inhabited their roles with great conviction. Baldwin’s comedic timing was impeccable as always. Ironically, his character’s life bore an uncanny resemblance to his real life in reference to the recent scandal with his daughter (which explains his "no show" at the festival.) Regardless, he emanated an irresistible charm on screen, which was entertaining and mesmerizing. -- 6/10

Sarah video from Suburban premiere

Click on the link

http://www.searchvideo.com/?method=truveo....;userResults=10

I can't see the clip

I can't see the clip

I can't see it either
I was only able to see the one about TAIB, but not Suburban Girl

She only talks for like a second, so you ain't missing anything really

She only talks for like a second, so you ain't missing anything really

But since Sarah normally talks pretty fast,won't we hear a couple dozen words at least?

I WANNA SEE IT SOO BAD

Another review

we come to Marc Klein's directing debut, "Suburban Girl," adapted from Melissa Bank's chick-lit classic, "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing." To absolutely no one's surprise, Baldwin didn't show on Friday night for the premiere of this uneven but pleasantly acrid romantic comedy, in which he stars opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar. Before the film started, Klein was clearly nervous about the possibility that his entire movie was about to become a tabloid footnote. "Anything I say here is likely to end up on Page Six," he told the audience, thanking Baldwin in absentia for his willingness "to go somewhere very personal" in the role of Archie Knox, a 50-ish New York publishing lion who romances Brett (Gellar), a junior editor half his age.

Personal how? Does Alec, like the sleazy but oddly appealing Archie, like 'em ever younger? Not quite -- Klein was preparing us for the film's series of unfortunate laugh lines. (She: "Did you call your daughter?" He: "I left her a message.") You see, Archie the character has an embittered ex-wife and an estranged daughter who doesn't talk to him, and he feels as if he's probably a crappy father. I don't imagine this material was meant to be funny, and when we weren't all howling at the cosmic synchronicities, "Suburban Girl" tasted like a moderately sophisticated, not-too-sweet cocktail.

If the coupling of Baldwin and Gellar seems startling at first, it's meant to be. Baldwin actually does take the dry, self-mocking manner of his recent career into more dangerous territory; Archie is a frustrated author, a supercilious drunk and an incurable philanderer. Since he's Alec Baldwin, he's also a calming and charming presence, and we can see why straightforward, ambitious Brett is intrigued by everything he represents. The film is visually undistinguished but played with delicacy by both actors, and the chemistry that eventually develops between the young striver and the aging Lothario leads to some surprisingly affecting moments

Overall I'd say the response to this film has been positive, especially for the acting.

Good to see.

Thanks for all the reviews.