I feel like I should have liked Mistress America more than I did. It’s from writer/director Noah Baumbach, who made one of the most painfully realistic family comedy-dramas I’ve ever seen, The Squid and the Whale (2005). His latest leans more toward comedy than drama, but it didn’t feel very authentic to me, perhaps because I couldn’t identify with its characters.
Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a lonely college student who reaches out to her future step-sister, Brooke (Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the screenplay with Baumbach), for some companionship. In Brooke she finds someone who is her polar opposite: energetic, lively, outgoing. She’s fascinated by her, becomes somewhat obsessed with her, yet at the same time pities her.
Tracy seems to be more of a mess than what she claims Brooke is. Yeah, the latter is a dreamer who will probably never see the fruition of her dreams, but the former performs a type of identity theft by writing a story about Brooke that gets her into an exclusive literary society. Like I said, it’s played mostly for laughs, but when Brooke finds out, there is one type of drama present… drama queen.
There are some hilarious lines, but not the kind that real people speak. Tracy documents some of Brooke’s for her story, but spouts just as many of her own. I can’t remember any of them because they fly so fast and furiously. Brooke is a heavy Twitter user and can instantly come up with something clever and witty to tweet. Tracy is equally qualified, but probably doesn’t believe in social media.
In some ways, I found more humor from the supporting cast. Tony (Matthew Shear) is Tracy’s only college friend. They’re sort of meant for each other, but he’s romantically committed to Nicolette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), who’s intensely jealous of their relationship. Tracy eggs her on, but it’s Tony’s reactions to Nicolette that cracked me up every time.
The story, such as it is, culminates with a road trip to visit Brooke’s old flame, Dylan (Michael Chernus) and his wife, Mamie-Claire (Heather Lind), who supposedly stole Brooke’s t-shirt idea and made a fortune from it. That’s good, because Brooke is asking for some of her spoils to open a restaurant. She figures that Mamie-Claire owes her.
As I write this, something dawns on me. It’s technically a visit to a medium where “spirit” guides Brooke to mend fences with Mamie-Claire. But maybe it’s really Tracy pulling the strings and getting the two together just so she can see the sparks fly. If so, Tracy’s not a very nice or sympathetic character. I couldn’t put my finger on why I didn’t really like Mistress America, but this may be the reason.
