Writer/director Maria Maggenti
struck a chord with the The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love,
and a decade later, she's back with a well produced comedy about a bisexual romantic
triangle. Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser) is a New York writer and opera fanatic dumped
by her girlfriend Sam (Julianne Nicholson, Kinsey)
when she can't commit. To compensate, she begins dating two other people - a woman
(Grace, Gretchen Mol) and, surprising herself, a man (Philip, Justin Kirk). In
scenes that harken to Woody Allen, Allegra juggles the two relationships with
advice from strangers passing by on the Manhattan streets. As a lesbian who finds
herself dating a man, she questions her sexual identity and analyzes her behavior
with a feminist eye. With a plot that is a bit predictable, we find that
Philip and Grace used to be a couple, both raw from their breakup and rebounding
with Allegra. Can there be any hope that she doesn't end up breaking both of their
hearts as well as her own? The dialog is smart, couched in the New York
intellectual milieu, but without the sexiness one might expect from this kind
of story. Still, it is generally well acted and a pleasant, if not entirely original,
comedy for those who don't mind their lesbians dating charming men every now and
then. |