Review: Carrie Pilby

Growing up is hard to do and even more so when you're nineteen-year-old intellectual prodigy Carrie Pilby (Bel Powley). A Londoner who moved to New York City after the death of her mother, Carrie spends most of her days in a spacious studio apartment, living off a trust fund, and being stuck in a rut.

Something's got to change but Carrie, whether out of fearful reluctance or apathetic laziness, isn't quite ready to embrace the inevitable. Her father (Gabriel Byrne) and therapist Dr. Petrov (Nathan Lane) decide to nudge Carrie towards adulthood by devising ways to help her participate in life. She's forced to take a night-shift job as a proofreader in a legal firm where she soon befriends quirky co-workers Tara (Vanessa Bayer) and Douglas (Desmin Borges). Dr. Petrov compiles a to-do list for her - "Go on a date. Get a pet. Re-read your favourite book." - which she grudgingly agrees to check off just to prove that doing these tasks won't enrich her life.

Of course, the girl with an IQ of 185 and who was writing "strongly worded letters to oil companies" when she was a youngster is soon dealing with matters not easily resolved by her academic smarts. There's her blind date with Matt (the always charming Jason Ritter), who would probably be a perfect combination of looks and brains if he wasn't already engaged to be married. There's neighbour Cy (William Moseley), the attractive music geek she keeps ignoring. Matt and Cy are certainly far more viable choices than Professor Harrison (Colin O'Donoghue), seen in flashbacks as the academic who seduced her when she was a student in his class.

With Powley in the lead role, Carrie Pilby comes off as a trite and scattered retread of her breakthrough performance in The Diary of a Teenage Girl. Both films deal with adolescents navigating their way through a minefield of often sexual complications, but this film adaptation of Caren Lissner's novel feels deeply contrived. Director Susan Johnson, an accomplished producer making her feature film debut, does a solid job but doesn't do much to delve into the darker aspects of the narrative. Carrie Pilby maintains a superficiality, an almost fairy tale-like gloss that makes it difficult to take it or the character's various dilemmas too seriously.

It's to Powley's credit that Carrie engages rather than repels for the character's bratty petulance, which is her defense mechanism, can be difficult to tolerate. Ditto to Ritter, who skillfully shades the distasteful Matt into arguably the most intriguing character in the entire film.

Carrie Pilby

Directed by: Susan Johnson

Written by: Kara Holden; based on the novel by Caren Lissner

Starring: Bel Powley, Nathan Lane, Gabriel Byrne, Vanessa Bayer, Colin O'Donoghue, Jason Ritter, William Moseley, Desmin Borges