Movie spotlight: 'Lola Versus'

I liked the way "Lola Versus" takes the Lego-piece building blocks of a New York City relationship comedy and turns it into something more asymmetrical and ironic and interesting.

This is a movie about reaching a point in life when you don't know what to do next and you hope falling in love solves that. Lola (played with very complex charm by Greta Gerwig) is 29 and ready to settle down. She lives in the nice Brooklyn apartment of her boyfriend, Luke (Joel Kinnaman), who proposes.

Complications ensue, and Lola finds herself back in the dating pool, half-crazy with bewilderment, desire, frustration and hope. Lola's re-entry to single life sets off a cascade of inter-dating among her network (including snarky Zoe Lister Jones and a nice, shaggy singer played by Hamish Linklater and) with hilariously awful results. Through it all, Lola cannot give up on Luke, because she knows that he will love her again -- because she needs him to.

Writer/director Daryl Wein and his co-screenwriter, Lister Jones, fashioned their delicious script out of their friends' dating horror stories. The film finds a nice balance between the astringent zingers (which are plentiful) and reality.

Far from celebrating lifelong commitment, this smart, laugh-out-loud comedy embodies its improbability. Sometimes love works. Sometimes it doesn't. Until we find something better, what else is there to do? (Rating: R.)

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