3 stars (out of 5)
Begun as a script to cheer up co-writer/director Peter Bogdanovich and his then-wife Louise Stratten back in the ‘90s, this New York farce has been mistaken for a Woody Allen comedy but is actually far sillier than anything glum old Woody would have tried since the ‘70s.
Related as an unreliable series of flashbacks being spun by Isabella or Izzy (Imogen Poots) to unconvinced journo Judy (Illeana Douglas), we first focus upon Broadway director Arnold (or maybe Derek) Albertson (Owen Wilson). Paying for an escort for the evening, he winds up with ‘Glow’ (or Izzy), and then, of course, finds her auditioning for a role in his latest pretentious-sounding play, A Grecian Evening, where she impresses the star of the show, Delta Simmons (Kathryn Hahn), who just happens to be Arnold’s wife.
Playwright Josh (Will Forte) is also smitten with Izzy (naturally), much to the fury of his therapist girlfriend Jane Claremont (Jennifer Aniston), whose clients include not only Izzy (are you getting all this?) but obsessed Judge Pendergast (Bogdanovich pal Austin Pendleton), and who has a thing for tampon jokes and loudly criticising the frantically unlikely nature of everyone’s relationships (and therefore the screenplay itself). And there’s also another of the play’s stars, slimy Seth Gilbert (Rhys Ifans in showboating form), who goes for Delta, Izzy and, indeed, any female with a heartbeat.
Lighter and loopier than Bogdanovich’s key ‘70s pics (like The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon) and naughtier (and rather more cynical) than his woofy What’s Up, Doc?, She’s Funny That Way is certainly amusing for the first and second acts, as it sets up all the necessary and improbable convolutions, mistaken identities and energetically daft setpieces. But then, as we get into the last half-hour or so, it’s hard not to start wishing that all of these overpaid, oversexed fools would shut up.
I Wake Up Screening 