■ Movie review
Martin s ,Shopgirl is better in print than on screen
The film centers on Mirabelle, an unassuming
saleswoman at Saks, and her two disparate suitors
BY KRISTEN GERHARD
PULSE REPORTER
At 60 years of age, Steve Martin has
been around the entertainment indus
try block a number of times, reincarnat
ed in a variety of characters. In the late
70s, he was a wild and crazy guy on
"Saturday Night Live." In the '80s, he
was an actor-turned-amigo in "Three
Amigos" and a deranged dentist in "Lit
tle Shop of Horrors." In the '90s, he was
America's favorite anxious dad in "Fa
ther of the Bride," and recently, he's
starred in a few fluffier films, like
"Bringing Down the House" and
"Cheaper by the Dozen," that have left
some fans scratching their heads.
Martin as comedic actor is a role
most of America is familiar with, but
Martin as playwright, contributor to The
New Yorker and scribe of three suc
cessful novels is a lesser-known part In
2001, Martin released his second book,
the 130-page novella "Shopgirl," which
enjoyed a stay on The New York Times'
bestsellers list Friday, the film adapta
tion of the book was released nation
wide and the public was formally intro
duced to this alternative Martin.
The film revolves, albeit slowly,
around three characters: Mirabelle, Je
remy and Ray Porter. Mirabelle, played
by Claire Danes, is a late-twenties sin
gle woman with the genuinely unas
suming nature of a pubescent girl.
When the film opens, she's working at
an inconsequential job, selling a prod
uct nobody's buying atthe glove count
er at Saks Fifth Avenue. As an aspiring
artist, she'd moved from Vermont to Los
Angeles to break into the scene, but
she is treading water—full of appre
hension in a sea of Type-A personalities
—when the audience first meets her.
Jeremy and Ray serve as love inter
ests in Mirabelle's life, despite the fact
that she sees little in herself that could
be deemed lovable. She meets Jeremy,
played by Jason Schwartzman, first
and goes on a few dates with the bum
bling young man who stencils fonts on
amplifiers for a living and only has
enough money to make itto Mirabelle's
frontdoor. However, Jeremy fails to
hold her interest ortreasure Mirabelle
as she requires. So when Ray, an older
and very successful businessman
played by Martin, strides into her life,
buys an expensive pair of gloves from
her counter and sends them to her
home with a card asking herto dinner,
she leaps head first into the opportunity
to be doted upon.
Essentially, "Shopgirl" is a film about
these excruciatingly real relationships,
with all the bland and uncomfortable
moments included and no rose-col
ored Hollywood filter applied.
Mirabelle and Jeremy's first sexual ex
perience is painfully clumsy and Ray,
on his first date with Mirabelle, moves
from "date questions" to "date com
ments" as if the process is simply a for
mula to which he must adhere. The film
is admirable in that it simply tells a story
and leaves room for audience interpre
tation, provoking thought about socie
tal standards of financial responsibility,
age discrepancy and communication
in romantic affairs without passing any
blatant judgments on the issues.
Since Martin adapted the "Shop
girl" screenplay himself, much of the
dialogue and exposition translates di
rectly from the book. The characters
continue to drive the story more than
the plot and the essential moments,
such as the evolution of Mirabelle and
Ray's relationship from romantic to
parental, really shine. In an interview
with The Columbus Dispatch, Martin
said he did not write the book with a
movie in mind, but the transition from
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page to screen is quite smooth.
However, many of the points and
practical background from the book
become too submersed in the film.
For instance, in the movie, Mirabelle
visits her home in Vermont and the
audience catches a glimpse of the
dismal life led by her parents. In the
text, the reader is able to climb in
side Mirabelle's head and hear what
she thinks about her mother and fa
ther, but in the movie, the viewer is
left to posit what the dreary tension
at home is all about. There are a few
brief moments of exposition by Mar
tin, who serves as an omniscient
narrator, that help clarify the story
line and may have proved beneficial
in larger doses.
However, Martin's dual roles as both
narrator and actor may have been an
other mistake in adaptation. In the
novella, the reader is able to access
Ray's inner monologue, making the
character more vulnerable and real.
Despite his age, he is just as emotional
ly screwed up as Mirabelle and Jere
my. In the film, however, Ray is associ
ated with the all-knowing narrator
making him seem flawless, even
though he isn't, thus making him too
powerful. What was very admirable
about the characters in the book was
thatthey all seemed to have their
faults, but this gets lost in the film.
Jeremy, however, is better on
screen. His process of self-discovery,
which takes place after he and
Mirabelle part ways and he takes a
journey around the country with a rock
band, is underdeveloped in the book
but well displayed in the film. Also,
Schwartzman brings the role to life in a
way that makes him more humorous
and oddly lovable, instead of just plain
pathetic. However, he plays Jeremy in
a manner similarto his roles as Max
Fischer in "Rushmore" and Albert
Markovski in "I Heart Huckabees,"
thus coming off funny in a cute, quirky
STEVE MARTIN
CLAIRE DANES
JASON SCHWARTZMAN
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shopgirl
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way, but inaccessible on a deeper
emotional level.
Danes' casting was another good fit.
As the meek Mirabelle, she appears
appropriately unassuming and almost
naive, which belies the intelligence her
genuine responses and witticisms in
conversation display. She is plain but
attractive, making her both lovable and
sexually desirable. And she brings
back her wholly believable, quivering
chin cry that made fans feel for her as
Beth March in "Little Women" and
Juliet Capulet in "Romeo + Juliet"
Overall, the film is interesting and
even manages to squeeze some very
uncomfortable humor out of a seri
ous plotline, but it is not without
faults. The pacing is disappointingly
slow for an adaptation of a book that
one could probably finish in a matter
of hours, and for a film that is largely
reliant on its characters, the devel
opment of emotions and back-sto
ries is lacking. "Shopgirl" will likely
please those who have read the
book, but leave those who haven't
wondering what, after nearly two
hours of theater time, they were
supposed to take away with them.
kgerhard@dailyemerald.com
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