The well-off and slightly introverted Lauren (Lauren Miller) has just been told by her boyfriend that he’s bored of their relationship, so he dumps her and asks her to move out of their shared apartment. The less well-off and extremely extroverted Katie (Ari Graynor) has just been told that the rent of her beautiful apartment is about to go through the roof, and unless she can find someone to move in with her, she’s out on her ear. Despite the fact that they detested each other in college, Lauren and Katie decide to give it a go as room-mates. What Lauren soon discovers is that Katie works from home as a phone-sex operator. However, being the efficient and business minded lady that she is, Lauren goes about making Katie’s sex-line more profitable, and it isn’t long before the uptight Lauren is talking dirty down the line herself…
A film with a filthy mind and an even filthier mouth, For A Good Time, Call… is still one of the cutest movies of the year. Despite the fact that it too often resorts to bad language and colourful euphemisms for sex and genitalia, most of the fun from this movie comes from watching the wound-up Lauren slowly unfurl, and the free-spirited Katie begin to settle down. That’s not to say that the script is bad; it’s peppered with one-liners that will no doubt join the ranks of Mean Girls and The Sweetest Thing in terms of quotability. Still though, what’s missing is a distinct lack of originality, as the movie goes through the same highs and lows as every other rom-com ever made.
The only difference here is that the lead romance seems to be between Lauren and Katie, as their burgeoning female bromance (fomance?) takes prominence over the men in their lives. Both Miller, who also co-wrote the script, and Graynor are fantastic in their roles, and there’s some great support from the likes of Justin Long, Seth Rogen, Nia Vardalos, Kevin Smith and Mark Webber.
For any fans of the TV show Girls, or those of you who would’ve liked Sex & The City to have had more of a potty mouth, this is the movie for you. But maybe don’t bring your boyfriend along with you. Or your mother, for that matter.
