Girl Most Likely

Imogene (Kristen Wiig) is a class-conscious NYC social-climber. After being dumped by her boyfriend, she feigns a suicide attempt, which lands her in the psych ward, where overcrowding leads the staff to ask her long-estranged gambling addict mother, Zelda (Annette Bening), to take charge of her for three days. So, Imogene reluctantly returns home to her spacey mom and wacky brother, Ralph (Christopher Fitzgerald), a lovable semi-recluse who's built a metal shell to protect him from the outside world. Zelda has also rented out her daughter's old room to a handsome casino song-and-dance man named Lee (Darren Criss), while also shacking up with goofy George (Matt Dillon), who claims to be a deep-cover government agent. Imogene and Zelda will, of course, bond; Ralph will discover untapped capabilities; and there will be romance—all thanks to a particular catalyst: the revelation that Zelda's presumed-dead husband is alive and well in Manhattan, which sends Imogene and Ralph on a quest to find him. Filmmaker Shari Springer Berman's Girl Most Likely is, unfortunately, a dramedy so relentlessly artificial that its outrageously absurd conclusion somehow seems appropriate. Despite the efforts of a game cast, this feels like a mediocre sitcom with pretensions to significance—one that even on the small screen would be quickly cancelled. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (9 min.), deleted scenes (3 min.), a “Life in the Human Shell” costume segment (3 min.), a gag reel (3 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing film.] (F. Swietek)