R | 1h 33m | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 2013
“In a World …” (“World”) starts with an opening credit montage/homage to the late Don LaFontaine, one of the most significant people in the history of motion pictures. If you don’t recognize that name, there’s a reason. LaFontaine wasn’t a producer, director, or a screenwriter, although he did write advertising copy.
In the strictest sense, LaFontaine also wasn’t an actor but rather a voice-over artist, lending his voice to more than 5,000 movie trailers and thousands more ad spots. Referred to as “Thunder Throat” and “The Voice of God,” LaFontaine stumbled onto his craft almost by accident. His voice-overs forever changed the way in which movies, TV, video games, and commercials were marketed.
The legend of LaFontaine and his original catchphrase “in a world” provides the springboard for “World,” the feature directorial debut of writer, actor, and co-producer Lake Bell.
Comedy Is Not Easy
Contrary to popular belief, romantic comedy isn’t easy. In fact, it’s the most difficult of all movie staple genres to pull off with conviction. Dozens of rom-coms are released every year and most are, well, not good. They follow the tried-and-true formula of boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, and boy-wins-girl-back.While there is certainly some of that here, Bell does so with three (or four or five) different subplots. All of them make sense and all reach believable conclusions, although a few are messy.
Bell stars as Carol, the daughter of Sam (Fred Melamed), a voice-over legend in his own right and the presumed heir to LaFontaine’s legacy. Not quite a legend yet is Gustav (Ken Marino), an up-and-comer and a major player (read: lounge lizard). Gustav has the looks, the pipes, the wealth (most of it inherited), and the towering ego to both compete professionally and to further indulge his brazen love life.
Vocal Fry
Barely getting by as a voice coach, Carol desperately wishes to follow in Sam’s footsteps. Even though she has a great voice with tremendous range, the opportunities for women to make it in the male-dominated movie trailer business are few. Teaching women to avoid speaking in “sexy baby voice” with side orders of “vocal fry” is good, but not all that career-fulfilling.Undeterred, Carol begins getting work doing TV commercials and children’s videos. With a lot of help and encouragement from her sometime co-worker (and not so secret admirer) Louis (Demetri Martin), she records an impressive demo tape that leads to heightened industry interest.
Woven throughout the various movie industry subplots is one involving Carol’s sister Dani (Michaela Watkins) and brother-in-law Moe (Rob Corddry). Dani is the concierge at a swank Los Angeles hotel, and Moe works from home as an information technology programmer.
After an event that is too juicy and spoiler-worthy to reveal here, Dani and Moe have a falling out. It is arguably the most emotionally engaging facet of the movie, and where Bell the screenwriter really shines.
Instantly Relatable
What Dani and Moe go through is something that thousands, if not millions, of married couples have experienced before. Bell conceives the two characters’ arcs in a manner that is instantly relatable, yet in a way rarely played out authentically on big or small screens. It’s loaded with sentiment but is completely devoid of gooey sentimentality, and provides the perhaps unintended heart and soul of the story.What Bell accomplished with “World” exists in the minds of every aspiring filmmaker: Give me a chance and I’ll make a great movie. She got that shot and made the most of it. Creating one very special movie is rare, and far better than churning out one below-average, forgettable film after another.
Bell made one great movie and that’s more than enough. All filmmakers should be so lucky and blessed.
