Girl Most Likely (2012)

“I grew up in the Atlantic City area, near the beach, so...”

“Then every day was like summer, right?”

“No, every day was not like summer; every day was like being impaled with a blunt wooden object, over and over again.”

            Growing up near the Jersey Shore is definitely not all it is cracked up to be. I live about thirty minutes away from either Seaside (yuck) or Point Pleasant (name says it all). The town I live in is not exactly small it is actually pretty large but it might as well feel like I am living in a small town with nothing exciting to do. I am literally surrounded by old people communities my damn backyard even faces one. If there are young people my age around here I most likely went to school with them or they are a bit hickish. I cannot wait for the day when I have a proper full time job somewhere away from my town. I would love to make it out of the Jersey Shore like Kristen Wiig’s character did in the movie Girl Most Likely. But I would not like to fall hard like she did.

            Imogene (Wiig) seems to be living a life most women dream of. She lives in a gorgeous apartment in New York City, lives with a very good looking man, and goes to parties at homes in the most exclusive avenues. Imogene was once a promising playwright but now works writing blurbs for a magazine on new plays. Her dreams and life come crashing down when her boyfriend breaks up with her. Not being able to take it Imogene pretends she is going to kill herself. Her plan backfires though when she accidentally takes some of the pills she had put on the bed along with a suicide note and her friend comes instead of her boyfriend.

            At the hospital the doctor tells Imogene that she has to go home with someone who will reassure her she is loved and ok. The doctor manages to track down Imogene’s mother Zelda (Annette Benning). Imogene has not seen her family nor spoken to them in years. Zelda is eccentric. For years she gambled away the money that should have gone towards the family. Her gambling is so bad that instead of taking Imogene straight home Zelda leaves her drugged up daughter in the backseat while she stops at a casino.

            Imogene returns to her old Jersey Shore home to find her room being rented out by a young kid named Lee (Darren Criss) and her mother’s new boyfriend who goes by the name of George Boushe (Matt Dillon) and has everyone believing he is a CIA agent. All Imogene wants to do is get back to New York City among her upper set of “friends” and try to patch things up with her boyfriend.

            While staying down the shore Imogene learns some things about herself and even a family secret her mother has kept from her since she was nine.

            I had some expectations going into Girl Most Likely and some were met and some were let down. Two expectations I had were Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss’s performances and they were wonderfully met. Wiig is so versatile. She can do comedy flawlessly and drama perfectly and with both be totally believable. Wiig is just immensely talented and have yet to be let down by one of her performances. I hate to even admit that I have seen a few episodes of Glee because I despise it (only watched three because of a bet/agreement with my college roommate when we were in school). Darren Criss was in the three episodes I watched and I liked him a lot. He is very talented. I went and looked him up to see what he looked like out of the show and I should not have been surprised by how handsome Criss is. He was very good in this movie, I liked his character and how he made Imogene see her life in a bit of different way. My expectations for the story were a little high and that was how I felt let down. The story was not terrible but it was not very engaging. My favorite part of the movie was of course when the Jersey Shore was shown. Always love a Jersey mention in movies. Girl Most Likely is worth watching at least once for Kristen Wiig.