An American in London, Jacks (Murphy) has a passion for Breakfast at Tiffany's, cultivating a flirty Audrey Hepburn persona to go along with her gay best friend Peter (Rhys), who's an aspiring screenwriter. But both of them jump to wrong conclusions when they meet gorgeous men. Jacks assumes Argentine photographer Paolo (Cabrera) is gay, so fixes him up with Peter, who's meanwhile trying to find the man (Rayner) he spotted in a hotel. Real life isn't as tidy as the movies, but perhaps Peter could write a script that would make sense of it.

The tone is bright and snarky, with a sassy sense of humour that's enjoyably silly (rather than hip and cool, which was clearly the goal). The mistaken identity and crossed wires of communication require a certain suspension of disbelief, and with Keshishian's willingness to play with every cliché imaginable, you also have to watch closely to see how he's subverting them as he goes along, right up to the Hollywoodised version of the story starring Bloom and Paltrow.

Along the way, there's some hilarious screwball moments and vicious satire of the film and fashion worlds, plus some meaningful observation (such as the fact that Jacks only sleeps with guys she doesn't love, and only loves guys she doesn't sleep with). For every scene that's sharp and sweet there's another that's broadly over the top. And the comedy tone ranges everywhere from an extended fart monolog (delivered deadpan by French) to genuinely witty running gags.

The story feels loosely autobiographical, with the budding filmmaker plotline as well as some surprisingly honest scenes that break through what we expect from Hollywood rom-coms (or London ones, for that matter). Even the usual wacky pals (Tate and Sives) have their stereotypes undermined, while Rhys and Murphy cut loose with energetically sexy and charming performances. On the surface, all of this is utter chaos; notice the filmmaker's tongue in his cheek and it's rather brilliant.

themes, language

10.Mar.08 lff