Slightly Single In L.A. DVD Review

Slightly Single In L.A. stars Lacey Chabert as Dale, a woman who swears off romantic relationships in Los Angeles because she wants something real. Her longtime friend, rock star Zach (Kip Pardue), is clearly interested in her, and she’s interested in him. And though everyone can see that they should be together, it takes more than eighty minutes for it to happen. That’s typical romantic comedy stuff, and it’s to be expected, but this film holds no surprises whatsoever. It’s completely predictable and simplistic.

I am not automatically against narration, as many people are, because it's been used really well in a number of films. This is not one of those films. The film opens with voice over by Dale: “I always forget stuff when I walk out the door. If any of my ex-boyfriends had picked up on that, perhaps things would have turned out differently.” So then we see a montage of her returning to her apartment to pick up whatever it was she forgot, only to find her current boyfriend in bed with another person. What – the moment she leaves, someone sneaks into her home to screw her boyfriend? And this was before she moved to Los Angeles. Also, though her forgetting things happens several other times in the film, it’s never anything important, never anything crucial to the story. And she always remembers the item in just a few seconds (in fact, another character counts the seconds before she returns) – so again, were her ex-boyfriends’ lovers waiting patiently in the closet for her to leave? This is a detail that is harped on, but is ultimately irrelevant.

Now in L.A. she is dating J.P., who wants her to suck his toes, and who is also clearly seeing other people. So not much has changed. Why does everyone cheat on her? The movie seems to take the stance that most guys are awful. But if that happened to you, after a while wouldn’t you question yourself, and wonder if perhaps there is something about you that drives men to seek affection elsewhere?  There is no such self-searching in this film.

Perhaps that is because all of the characters Dale surrounds herself with are shallow and obnoxious. We’re introduced to each of them, and their names appear on the screen: Seven (her gay roommate), Becca (who right away reads on the internet that J.P. has impregnated a model, which is convenient), Hallie (who at one point is described as a “fame whore”), and Jill (the most irritating of them all). This is one of those movies about Los Angeles where you hate basically everyone, where the worst qualities of people in this city are exaggerated. (In the DVD’s special features, writer/director Christie Will says, “I quite love Los Angeles, so I wanted to do kind of  a ‘I Love LA’ type of movie.” That is shocking, because everything about this film says, “I fucking hate this city.”)

There are, however, some funny moments, some good moments. The first laugh for me comes during Jill’s introduction. She announces that she’s getting married, and we see a flashback of the supposed proposal. Chris Kattan plays Drew, the man that Jill bullies into getting engaged to her. Drew is one of the few likeable characters in the film. Chris Kattan is the most refreshing presence in the movie, and I wanted a lot more of him.

I also really like the joke about street cleaning. Becca is crying because there is a boot on her car. She whines, “Every Monday I have to get up and move my car before nine a.m. Nine a.m.!” That’s actually a wonderful moment, and Carly Schroeder as Becca does a great job with it.

The film touches upon some of the same elements as L.A. Story, such as restaurant patrons giving difficult, specific orders, and driving a short distance rather than walking. But L.A. Story handles this stuff much better.

One of the big problems with the film is the narration. There really is no subtext in this film. Everything is text. Even when Zach tells Dale he loves her, we have a whole seen of narration by Dale in which she realizes she loves him too and says she wants one more chance. Geez, enough already! But the biggest problem is that you just don’t care about any of these people. You know from the first scenes that Dale and Zach will end up together, but neither of them is really fleshed out as a character. I don’t think it’s the fault of the actors, for I’ve seen both Lacey Chabert and Kip Pardue turn in quite good performances in other films (Kip Pardue was excellent in The Rules Of Attraction, for example). It’s the script. In Zach’s first scene he tells Dale he’s going out on tour, but then that tour keeps conveniently getting pushed back. That itself is odd, because a tour is many dates. One or two dates getting changed is believable. But a whole tour? And if he’s never going on tour (he never does), then why mention that he’s going on tour in his first scene?

And at the end, there is something that is so ridiculous that I waited for an explanation. None came. What happens is a limousine pulls up outside a church, and two very young girls step out for their first communion. No parents, no other adults or even children in sight. Then Dale’s friends get in the limo, and it drives away. What?  Seriously, what?

Slightly Single In L.A. was written and directed by Christie Will. The DVD’s special feature, “Meet The Director,” is a thirteen-minute interview with her. In that interview, she says this is her first screenplay, and her first time directing. Also, we learn the film is loosely based on her life, and on people she’s known. She even knew someone named Seven. She says that someone wisely told her to write what you know. Well, sure, but someone else should have told her that it still needs to be a good story with interesting characters.

Slightly Single In L.A. is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 3, 2013 through Well Go USA Entertainment.