For a good time, Call…
Last year “Bridesmaids” showed that women could do crude humor. When did that stop? Didn’t Cameron Diaz expertly handle a “hair gel” scene more than a decade ago? Anyway, now here is Lauren Miller and Katie Ann Naylon’s “For a Good Time, Call”. It’s got laughs, it’s got heart. Looks like crude women are 2 for 2, so far.
In addition to sharing screenwriting duties with Naylon, Miller also stars as Lauren, having life all planned out before unfortunately being forced to shack up with Katie (Ari Graynor), the girl who humiliated her at a party in high-school. Gay best friend Jesse (Justin Long, getting the film’s best lines) mediates the truce but even he is shocked when Lauren, after failed job interviews, winds up stumbling onto Katie’s phone sex business and decides to manage the marketing and billing divisions. Soon the money is flowing in and the two are bonding–in several ways.
The lines are pretty funny. “Whatever they say, I just tell them I want to lick it” says Katie, as she describes how easy the business is. But there is something more at play besides the phone sex narrative. At its heart this is a winning story about female friendship with two star-making lead performances from Miller and Graynor. Miller’s straight-laced uptightness transitions perfectly into kinky curiosity while Graynor is playful and totally endearing. These two are so easygoing and sweet together that the laughs and heart come naturally.
And then there are the hilarious cameos by Kevin Smith, who plays a cabbie fantasizing about trucks backing into a loading dock, and Miller’s husband Seth Rogen, an airline pilot trying to get one off before taking off. But mostly it comes down to Miller and Graynor, two actresses who make for a fine comedy team.