Brought to us by the same pairing that brought to the big screen the critically acclaimed FRANCES HA ~ Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig ~ comes the tale of a tumultuous pairing between a new college Freshman and her soon-to-be step-sister ~ as they forge their intertwined lives to achieve their dreams in the city that never sleeps ~ welcome to MISTRESS AMERICA!
When New College Freshman Tracy (Lola Kirke) finds herself deeply depressed over her mundane life on campus in New York City, leave it to her soon-to-be older stepsister Brooke (Greta Gerwig) to jump into her life, turning her world upside down.
As Brooke seems to hypnotize Tracy with her “Girl about town” ways, and her dreams of being a restaurateur, Tracy is beginning to enjoy being a NEW YORK GIRL, finally!!!
When Brooke’s life begins to unravel ~ Tracy sees the perfect opportunity to not only turn Brooke’s life around ~ but to save her own dreams too…
Using Brooke as the subject matter for one of her essays, Tracy is flying high by the acceptance this story has brought to her – and her academic life. But, sadly, this same endeavor has managed to destroy her and Brooke’s friendship too, when Brooke finds out that “her life story” is now out there, for all the world to see…
I give MISTRESS AMERICA a rating of ~ DON’T WAIST YOUR TIME OR MONEY ~ Even though I love Greta Gerwig, and was excited to see what her next collaboration with Baumbach would involve ~ having loved their first collaboration FRANCES HA, I was sadly not enamored with this film AT ALL. I’m not sure if it was the in cohesiveness that seemed to plague the storyline, or the lackluster acting performances throughout the film ~ including Gerwig’s ~ that weren’t enticing me, but either way, this film just seemed to be getting in it’s own way. Every once in a while I would see a glimmer of the Gerwig that I love, but then, just as quickly, she was gone. The same seemed to happen with Kirke’s performance too, as at the beginning of the film you can see such potential for her role, but it just fads off into nothingness to never return. The only positive for me was the fact that this film is only 84 minutes long (THANK GOD), and the only twist that I didn’t see coming ~ and was hoping would be the jump-start that this film desperately needed was the path their parents decide to take in their relationship, but even that “little excitement” couldn’t save this film and it’s mediocrity. All I kept thinking while continuing to view this film was…”this is going to end up being 1.5 hours of wasted time, that I am never going to get back…”
Kathy Kaiser
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 
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