Film Review - All All About Nina

Nina (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a stand up comic with a very large self-destructive streak. She patrols the New York Comedy clubs at night and a better than average looking girl on the circuit can have her pick of fellow comics or fanboys. At the films opening she picks up a young guy at the end of her set and brings him home. There she finds her on and off married cop boyfriend Joe (Chace Crawford) who scares off the young guy hits her then spends the night. Seeing that things are not working out in the City and a quick goodbye visit to her mom (Camryn Manheim) she talks the chance to audition for the popular show go Comedy Prime in Los Angeles.

Once there its obvious that she is in a new world, the roads are hilly and her first encounter with the woman putting her up Lake (Kate del Castillo) an author with whom she shares a pregnant agent (Angelique Cabral). Lake is very spiritual all about auras and signs declaring that she is water based. Nina unable to resist the softball snarls that she is whiskey based as she tries to slip a hug and comments about preferred pronouns. Keeping busy she takes some local gigs and meets Rafe (Common) after a show. He's unlike guys she knows from New York, He's honest seems happy and someone who she may want to see more than once.

Writer-Director Eva Vives goes deep into the female psyche with this film with Winstead eager to go on the ride. The raw side of the female experience is discussed on stage.  Nina is always looking to skip the dinner and movie part and get straight to the sex. She has panic attacks, throws up every time she comes off stage and admits openly that she has daddy issues but that's only scratching the surface.

All About Nina is a story about a woman who is clearly a loud taker as opposed to the giving supportive wife figure that is commonly portrayed on screen. Winstead attacks as Nina showing her claws often. But her tuff exterior and her pension for disrupting anything good may be challenged by good guy Rafe. Its a story of a woman who has buried a traumatic event in her past in her past that has shaped her worldview. Maybe in this new setting, her outlook can can finally change.

*** Out of 4

All About Nina  | Eva Vives | U.S.A. | 2018 | 97 Minutes.

Tags; Stand-up | Comedy Club, New York, L.A., Audition, Impressions, Network Show, Panic Attack, Meltdown, Cat Therapy.