“The Pretty One” is a romantic comedy which features strong performances from Zoe Kazan and Jake Johnson. It has its interesting and enjoyable moments but I felt it didn’t have the movie magic that romantic comedies are known for. Still, “The Pretty One” is an entertaining popcorn romantic comedy worth checking out!
Image courtesy of © 2014 The Pretty One LLC All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Pretty One
RELEASE OF MOVIE: 2013
DURATION: 95 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English SDH
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: R (Language and some Sexual Content)
RELEASED: June 3, 2014
Directed by Jenee LaMarque
Written by Jenee LaMarque
Produced by Steven J. Berger, Robin Schorr
Co-Producer: David Szamet
Co-Executive Producer: Alan Pao
Music by Julian Wass
Cinematography by Polly Morgan
Edited by Kiran Pallegadda
Casting by Lindsay Graham, Mary Vernieu
Production Design by Anne Costa
Art Directon by Brittany Bradford
Costume Design by Emily Batson
Starring:
Zoe Kazan as Laurel/Audrey
Jake Johnson as Basel
Ron Livingston as Charles
Frances Shaw as Claudia
Jeremy Howard as James
Sterling Beaumon as Hunter
Danny Pudi as Dr. Rao
Sabrina Lloyd as Edith
John Carroll Lynch as Frank
Laurel (Kazan) has always been the odd wallflower, choosing to live at home with her father, while her glamorous identical twin, Audrey (Kazan), possesses the confidence and appeal to succeed in the big city. When tragedy strikes and Laurel is mistaken for her twin sister, she makes the impulsive decision to assume her sister’s identity and become The Pretty One. As she eases into her new, independent existence, Laurel discovers that she’s capable of accomplishments she had never before had dreamed of: excelling in a career, maintaining friendships and even finding love. Zoe Kazan (Ruby Sparks), Jake Johnson (TV’s “New Girl”) and Ron Livingston (Drinking Buddies) star in this quirky, comedic drama about family ties and second chances.
For filmmaker Jenee LaMarque, having created two shorts “Happy Deathday” and “Spoonful”, Jenee takes on her first feature film, the comedy “The Pretty One”, which she wrote and directed.
Starring Zoe Kazan (“What if”, “Fracture”, “Ruby Sparks”), Jake Johnson (“New Girl”, “21 Jump Street”, “Safety Not Guaranteed”) and Ron Livingston (“Office Space”, “Swingers”, “The Conjuring”).
The film revolves around Laurel (portrayed by Zoe Kazan), a wallflower who lives with her father and is a young woman who is an average girl but dating the boy that she once babysitted.
When her glamorous identical twin Audrey (also portrayed by Zoe Kazan) comes to visit, Audrey is surprised about Laurel’s life and that she needs to take her out to the big city.
As Laurel gets a haircut and dye job similar to Audrey, as the two are having fun and leaving to the big city, tragedy overshadows the family as a head-on accident kills Audrey and as for Laurel, she wakes up and realizes everyone thinks she is her glamorous sister.
While Laurel wants to tell her father (portrayed by John Carrol Lynch) what happened, upon appearing at the funeral, she realizes that no one has anything good to say about her, so she decides to assume Audrey’s identity and let everyone believe that Laurel had died.
Because Audrey had the better life, Laurel assumes her sister’s identity and moves to the big city and finds out that Audrey has been having an affair with a married man (portrayed by Ron Livingston) and has a male roommate named Basel (portrayed by Jake Johnson).
And while the real Audrey didn’t care for Basel and was going to kick him out and have Laurel live with her, with Laurel assuming Audrey’s life, she starts to realize that there are opportunities in life and to become a different person.
But what happens when Laurel wants everyone to know the truth that she has been assuming Audrey’s identity?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Pretty One” is presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen with an English 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack with subtitles in English SDH. Picture quality is as good as one can expect on DVD. Audio is primarily dialogue-driven and understandable.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Pretty One” comes with one special feature:
- The Pretty One: Visual Effects – (1:58) A short featurette on how the visual effects were creatd.
The independent film “The Pretty One” is witty and features a wonderful performance from actress Zoe Kazan.
That’s the good news.
But for the actual film, there are enjoyable moments of the film but its subject matter of a simple girl named Laurel and wanting to step into the shoes of her more outgoing sister after an accident and assuming her identity could have been better.
While “The Pretty One” is not the first film nor the last about one assuming a fantasy life that is not truly their own, others such as “Pretty Woman”, allow one to fall for the challenges and the transformation that the character goes through from beginning to end.
For “The Pretty One”, There is not much sympathy going towards Laurel’s way because she assumes her dead sister’s identity and the film focuses less on the transformation of the character and focuses on her adjustment of pretending to be Audrey and eventually falling for her roommate.
The film, while enjoyable, is lacking the charm and the magic that makes these films so captivating and wonderful. You want to see Laurel trying to live her life and eventually growing with the city that she is now living and falling in love.
Too much of the film falls on the shoulders of Zoe Kazan, assuming two roles but fortunately, she is able to pull both characters off with efficacy. It’s just the screenplay and overall setting, which could have made things much more believable.
The DVD features very good picture quality, audio is primarily dialogue-driven and there is one special feature showing how Kazan was able to play two roles on screen.
Overall, “The Pretty One” is a romantic comedy which features strong performances from Zoe Kazan and Jake Johnson.  It has its interesting and enjoyable moments but I felt it didn’t have the movie magic that romantic comedies are known for.
Still, “The Pretty One” is an entertaining popcorn romantic comedy worth checking out!
