Lola vs. the rest of the world

Lola (Greta Gerwig) is desperate: she actually wanted to walk down the aisle with her long-term boyfriend Luke (Joel Kinnaman) in three weeks. But suddenly Luke gets cold feet and dumps Lola. As her 30th birthday approaches, Lola believes that she will never be able to be happy again. On the advice of her best friend Alice (Zoe Lister-Jones), she dabbles in the New York scene with little success. Amorous feelings she suddenly has for her best friend Henry (Hamish Linklater) also cause emotional chaos rather than genuine happiness. And the advice of her parents (Bill Pullman and Debra Winger) drives Lola further to the brink of madness. Soon she's sure: the world has conspired against her - and maybe she should just give up looking for the great happiness.

Lola Against the Rest of the World follows a somewhat neurotic woman for a year in her desperate search for happiness, love and fulfillment of her desires. Director Daryl Wein, who co-wrote the script with his partner Zoe Lister-Jones, found much of the inspiration for the story in their own circle of acquaintances. The writing duo also incorporated their own relationship into the script. The result is extremely funny and charming, especially in the first half. Cheeky dialogue, quirky characters and a very cute Greta Gerwig definitely give the film the potential to become a minor classic of modern romantic comedy in its best moments.

But unfortunately the film can't maintain this quality until the end. Somehow, Wein seems to let the whole thing slip out of his hands. The story doesn't really develop, but just takes on more chaotic and neurotic traits. As a result, not only does the story lose its wit, but the character of Lola loses her charm as well. At some point, she even runs the risk of completely squandering all of the audience's sympathy. Some of the supporting actors, especially Hamish Linklater and a wonderfully odd Bill Pullman, still manage to save a lot. Nevertheless, in the end the bitter realization remains that a lot of good potential was built up here, but was only really adequately used in the first half.

The beginning of Lola against the rest of the world makes great desire for fireworks of gags, amusing neuroses and quite a lot of emotion. In the end, however, all the viewer gets is a lukewarm independent comedy with an engaging New York flair and a few funny moments. It's quite nice to look at, but unfortunately also somehow quite inconsequential. Therefore, the bottom line and especially because of the good first half, there is just one: worth seeing with deductions!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp