Shopgirl   

Ray Porter: Steve Martin

Mirabelle: Claire Danes

Jeremy: Jason Schwartzman

Lisa Cramer: Bridgette Wilson-Sampras

Directed by Anand Tucker

Written by Steve Martin

based on his novel

Set in L.A., Shopgirl is the story of Mirabelle, a girl who works the glove counter at Saks.  She meets two men at roughly the same time in her life.  One proves to be a diversion, the other turns into something a little more important, but you're never sure which is going to be which.

It appeared that Los Angeles is supposed to provide some kind of important backdrop to this story (this is Steve Martin, after all), but I wasn't able to pick up on the how or the why.  And the repeated emphasis turned into a distraction.

Director Anand Tucker used a lot of flourishes as he transitioned from scene to scene.  Windows turning into stars and back into windows and sweeping shots of the vast L.A. network of highways were used often.  But, whereas Michael Mann in Collateral was able to expertly interweave the city into that movie, the shots here just appear to be mere window-dressing. 

It's almost as if Tucker thought the movie was about two people finding each other in this big, wide world.  But I think he missed the point entirely.  Two people finding each other is inevitable.  How they go about meeting each other and why they end up together are far more interesting and seems to be what Martin had in mind here.  The fact that the director and the writer aren't on the same page prevents this movie from being even better.

Despite my dislike for a lot of these technical aspects of the film, the movie that lies at the heart of all the pretense is very good.  Steve Martin is a talented writer and has adapted his novel to the screen very well.  Although, I could have done without his clunky narration that only reiterated obvious points.

The acting here is superb, which makes me wonder why Claire Danes is not a bigger star.  Mirabelle is still a naive country girl from Vermont, but she realizes how good she has it and would rather get hurt than give it up.  Danes reveals these complex emotions and feelings wonderfully while keeping her innocence intact.  Jason Schwartzman does well to prevent Jeremy from becoming obnoxious and turns him into someone to root for.

The strength of this film is in the relationships and they are definitely fully realized.  The similarities and differences between Ray and Jeremy are shown in clever ways and you get a sense of the appeal of both these characters, and Mirabelle's choice becomes a realistic one in addition to being harder than it would initially appear.