ALL ABOUT NINA – Review

Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Common in ALL ABOUT NINA. Photo credit: Thomas Scott Stanton. Courtesy of The Orchard ©

ALL ABOUT NINA focuses on a woman trying to break into the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy, but Eva Viva’s feature film debut is really about a woman living with the legacy of abuse. One of the odd things about this film is that it is essentially built like a romantic comedy about the gifted but struggling comic, but then makes turns that are neither comic nor romantic but raw and real. What rescues this uneven, head-twisting film is Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s wickedly funny yet heartbreaking performance as the comedian, Nina.

There is good and bad in ALL ABOUT NINA but the intentions are good. It starts out more dryly comedic but switches to darker tones as we learn more about Nina.

On stage, Nina is bold, with bitingly-funny, frankly-sexual routines delivered with bravura. Off stage, she is more of a mess, throwing up after every performance and being very guarded in her interactions with people. Her sexually-charged stand-up draws men to her but she rebuffs them all,  avoiding commitment and even conventional dating, preferring to simply pick up unsuspecting partners for one-night hookups. Despite that, she is nonetheless harassed by an abusive ex-lover (Chace Crawford). Struggling in her career and personal life in New York, Nina relocates to Los Angeles, to audition for a spot on a TV comedy show, Comedy Prime, a move that is supposed to be temporary.

Her agent finds her a place to stay with another client, Lake (Kate de Castillo), a very California, Reiki-practicing author. The film has a little fun with the culture shock of the native New Yorker in LA but it soon turns its attentions to romance, when Nina meets Rafe (Common), who is a man unlike any she has met before. However, this film has larger ambitions than romantic comedy, which into gets to shortly after these two connect.

A major strength of the film is the ensemble work of Winstead and Common, who together have a believable, warm chemistry. There is a quirky charm to the both of their characters, as they start to explore the possibility of a relationship. They both have their issues to deal with, and a large cultural divide to bridge, but the appealing connection they make has us rooting for them.

Another strength is Winstead’s stand-up routines, which are gritty, sexy, and acidly funny. Her ability to balance that on-stage persona with Nina’s more reticent off-stage one in a thoroughly convincing fashion is much of what makes the film watchable.

Honesty is a big theme in stand-up, with comedians and producers pushing for more honest, raw and edgy material. Everyone in this film talks about being honest, and Nina does too, but in fact, she has things she doesn’t want to share – deep, dark things. The film uses what happens to explore how much honesty we really want and the line between a kind of “truth or dare” honesty and real, sometimes shattering truth.

Some of what this film contains is very hard to watch but Winstead’s strong performance helps ALL ABOUT NINA say what Vive’s film is there to say. But the major reason to see ALL ABOUT NINA is the remarkable Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

ALL ABOUT NINA opens, Friday, Oct. 12, at AMC Chesterfield.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars