A word to the wise moviegoer: When John Waters veteran Mink Stole is cast as a Jewish mother, it’s not a good sign.
Stole isn’t a bad actress, nor does she go screeching over the top in her big scene in the lesbian romantic comedy “Girl Play.” Well, she screeches all right, but manages to stay within hailing distance of recognizable human behavior.
The problem is that the filmmakers wink at us by casting someone with all that baggage, and they undercut any dramatic weight her scene is intended to have.
That said, Stole’s presence is the least of the movie’s problems. In a way, that’s beside the point, however, for this picture is a pleasant enough diversion aimed at an audience that will accept and enjoy the film on its modest terms.
“Girl Play” opens Friday, May 13, at the Roxie Cinema. Co-writers and co-stars Robin Greenspan and Lacie Harmon will be at the evening shows on opening weekend.
“Girl Play” isn’t a movie so much as an illustrated monologue, or rather parallel and overlapping monologues, lacquered with a veneer of standup comedy. The piece began life as a long-running play, and much of the film consists of the main characters standing on a stage, looking into the camera and working their butts off to charm us with their story.
Robin (Greenspan), the dark Jewish one, is married to her girlfriend and ensconced in a townhouse in the L.A. hills. When she and acquaintance Lacie (Harmon) — an acerbic, non-Jewish blonde with a street-smart, tough-girl aura and a preference for one-nighters — are cast as lovers in a two-character play, their settled lives become increasingly unsettled.
Dom Deluise, who enlivened several Mel Brooks films with shtick and double-takes, has a campy cameo as the gay director who pushes his actresses toward greater intimacy.
“Girl Play” trades on the likeability and candidness of the leads, and the audience’s desire to see them get together. That’s not much, which explains why the movie is a mere 80 minutes — including three minutes of tepid outtakes after the end credits.
In real life, Greenspan and Harmon performed the play around the state for several years, and one can readily imagine its appeal for them. By re-creating the chain of events and emotions through which they became a couple, the duo invited the audience to watch them fall in love again before their eyes.
That’s pretty irresistible. As a bonus, the show was charged with the tension and uncertainty that accompany live theater.
Onscreen, however, Greenspan and Harmon aren’t falling in love as much as acting out a happily-ever-after story. The frisson of discovering true love has been replaced by the self-satisfaction of knowing that it turned out just fine.
“Girl Play” boasts stylish direction by Lee Friedlander, a poppy soundtrack and an extended, explicit love scene that is the film’s major set piece.
The other big scene — and it’s an excruciating one — belongs to Mink Stole. At a Chinese buffet, she admonishes Robin to get their money’s worth by loading up on the shrimp, then nags her about the guys she should be dating.
Robin had planned to come out to her mother at lunch, but she chickens out. When she finally does — in a quintessential L.A. setting — it’s a surprising and touching moment.
And it’s almost enough to forget we’re watching Mink Stole.
“Girl Play” opens Friday, May 13, at the Roxie Cinema, 3117 16th St. (at Valencia), S.F.