She’s Funny That Way

New Hollywood legend Peter Bogdanovich’s return to the silver screen has been a long time coming, and happily it’s a resounding success. She’s Funny That Way has all the makings of an instant classic: it’s witty, romantic and utterly adorable. 

The film tells the rags-to-riches tale of young actress Isabella Patterson (Imogen Poots) – formerly call girl (or “muse” as she calls it) Izzy Beatty – as she recounts it to an unimpressed journalist. Her rise to fame begins when married Broadway director Arnold Albertson (Owen Wilson) hires her under a fake name for the night, at the end of which he promises her a ridiculous amount of money if she agrees to never do this again. Thinking she’s made a real connection, Izzy accepts and the very next day receives a call from her agent who has found her a leading role on Broadway which, surprise surprise, is the very play Albertson is set to direct; the play which is also set to star his wife Delta (Kathryn Hahn) and her old flame Seth (Rhys Ifans). The playwright Josh (Will Forte) finds himself quite taken with Izzy despite the fact that he’s currently dating her psychiatrist Jane (Jennifer Aniston), misunderstandings and all manner of hijinks ensue. 

The characters are lively, colourful and endearing, and the story is sweet and entertaining: a true modern day fairytale. The acting is strong; Poots continues to impress with a brilliant performance as the feisty Isabella (with a flawless Brooklyn accent) and Aniston is absolutely hilarious as Dr Jane. The script is hilarious, and what’s more, the film almost completely steers clear of the usual rehashed borderline-offensive garbage a lot of American comedy films seem to rely on these days. This is classy filmmaking.

She’s Funny That Way isn’t a game-changer by any stretch of the imagination; it stays true to the classic, New York rom-coms and which is oddly refreshing. But what really makes She’s Funny That Way stand out is that it feels like an already well-loved piece of work, not simply another romantic comedy churned out to cash in on the summer movie season.

Natasha Furlong

She’s Funny That Way is released nationwide on 26^th June 2015. 

Watch the trailer for She’s Funny That Way here: