Shopgirl

Shopgirl (2005) is based on Steve Martin's novella of the same name. I certainly enjoyed the book and was more than willing to give the movie version a go (especially since I generally like Claire Danes -- ever since the short-lived tv series "My So-Called Life" -- and Steve Martin). The movie retains the thoughtful charm of the book. The shopgirl in question is Mirabelle (Danes), an aspiring artist who currently works at the glove counter at Saks. She gets involved with both Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), who is about her age and who she meets at the laundromat, and Ray Porter (Martin), who she meets at Saks and who is not "age-appropriate" at 25 or so years older. Shortly after they meet, Jeremy leaves town for a few months. This allows Mirabelle's relationship with Ray to rise and fall by the time he returns. The fact that the narrator is also Steve Martin is a little odd, as the narrator has much better insight than Ray Porter does. But perhaps that it partly the author-screenwriter's way of linking him with this emotionally distant character. One of the refreshing things about these characters is that they are pretty much all out there. No one does anything all that surprising. (Well, Jeremy might be the exception to that -- he really does seem to grow as a result of his extended listening to self-help books on tape.) No character is all good or all bad -- they are in many ways just like normal, flawed human beings.