new ager, but eventually becomes both a source of maternal warmth and strength for Nina – and, along with her girlfriend, Paula ( Clea DuVall, Veep), a model for a healthy relationship.Īlso warming up Nina’s little heart, much to her chagrin, is Rafe ( Common), a contractor who approaches her with something she’s never seen before: quiet self-assurance. A less sly joke is Nina’s temporary hostess, Lake ( Kate del Castillo, Jane the Virgin), a Reiki healing hippie who starts out as a clumsy stereotype of a vapid L.A. In one of the slyest jokes in the movie, Nina’s heavily pregnant agent, Carrie ( Angelique Cabral, Life in Pieces), tells her that while the show’s producers concede that they need more women in the cast, they only have room for one, forcing her to compete with other female comedians for the attention of head producer Larry Michaels ( Beau Bridges). to audition for Comedy Prime, a Saturday Night Live-like TV show.

Off stage, however, she bristles with resentment at the overly confident men who approach her after her sets, sure that they can both match wits with her, and get her into bed, while gleefully ignoring the disgust in her eyes.Īfter getting herself out of a dead-end relationship with her married, abusive boyfriend, Joe ( Chace Crawford, Gossip Girl), Nina leaves New York for L.A. Unlike a lot of actors playing comedians in movies, Winstead seems like she’s been doing open mic nights for years, and as Nina she’s genuinely funny on stage. She’d prefer if she could put more about her lonely, tumultuous personal life into her comedy, but chooses mostly to stick with sex and gross-out humor, the kind of the thing she knows will make mostly male comedy audiences comfortable. Though Nina fires off jokes on stage with a sexy, almost masculine swagger, she also explosively stress vomits after every show. Writer-director Eva Vives’ debut feature about a woman who makes a profession out of turning her unhappy life into jokes comes at just the right time, when the world is only just starting to understand the breadth and width of female anger. “Isn’t it great how all of the sudden they know that we’re funny?” comedy club owner and former stand-up Pam ( Pam Murphy) tells her younger counterpart, Nina Geld ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead) – one of many moments in All About Nina that lands as a joke, but leaves a bitter, all too realistic aftertaste. This piece was originally posted on Alcohollywood

Mary Elizabeth Winstead lashes back at the stiflingly male-dominated world of standup comedy in Eva Vives’ acerbic, stunning debut.

Thread of Revenge by Elizabeth Goddard