Movie Review: Shopgirl

Steve Martin wrote the screenplay for the 2005 film Shopgirl, based on his short novel of the same title. Martin has written several fine small novels. He’s an intelligent, ironic writer with a canny sense of whimsy that one can associate with his comic stand-up routines. Roxanne (1987) was another fine film scripted by Martin. It is more exuberant and outright comic than this subdued and poignant film.

Martin has appeared in films of wildly varying quality. Recently he starred in the unfortunate and unnecessary Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel, and well as in the recent remake The Pink Panther, by all accounts a bad film. Is the problem that good film roles aren’t available for Martin? Or is it his own poor judgment — he did write the screenplay for The Pink Panther.

Shopgirl, directed by Anand Tucker, is quite good. Martin plays one of three main characters, but the lead character is Mirabelle Buttersfield, a salesgirl in her mid-20s at Saks Fifth Avenue, played by Claire Danes, who underplays her role to just the right extent. The film is about her struggle to connect — she is lonely and reticent. She is waiting for something to happen, and it is just possible for her to imagine that something will not happen at all.

Shopgirl is about Mirabelle's relationships with a young man who specializes in stenciling and with a wealthy and much older man, Ray Porter, played by Martin. While he is basically just out for a romantic relationship and for sex, with no strings attached, she falls in love with him.

There is much one might find to criticize in the film — inconsistencies in character and in plot — but the film seduces you into overlooking those flaws and into falling under the thrall of the movie’s charm and of the characters played by Martin and Danes.

Article Author: Hugh Ruppersburg

Hugh Ruppersburg lives and works in Athens, Georgia.

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