How to Talk to Girls at Parties: Film Review
How to Talk to Girls at Parties was one of the films I was most excited to watch at the London Film Festival, but I wasn’t alone and every public screening sold out, so I had to wait until now to see it. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to expectations, even though I had a lot of fun with it.
Alex Sharp stars as Enn, a punk-loving boy living in Croydon, south London in the 1970s. After a gig one night, he goes searching for the afterparty with his mates and they get lost, and end up at some other home – which is housing a group of aliens who have come to Earth to observe it during their tour of the galaxy. Zan (Elle Fanning) doesn’t want to passively watch and learn, she wants to get involved, so she runs away with Enn and they form a romance.
It’s not much of a surprise, but the film doesn’t really have anything about talking to girls at parties and is very weird, even odder than I imagined it to be. I’m not sure if the film takes itself seriously or not, but it made me laugh all the same – sometimes at it, because of its wacky goings-on, and sometimes with it, because the script has some hilarious pieces of dialogue.
Sharp is a newcomer to me and he was a likeable and sympathetic leading man and I would happily watch him in another project. Fanning is a delight as always and it was a lot of fun to watch her let go and play this naive person full of awe and wonder. It was amazing to see Nicole Kidman rocking the punk look as a bitter music manager. I have no idea why she signed up for this movie but I enjoyed every moment of her onscreen – partly because she was awesome and partly because I couldn’t get over her appearance. It’s so different to what we’re used to.
Although I enjoyed it, How to Talk to Girls at Parties does have a fair few problems. It doesn’t really have a strong central narrative and seems to be more of a collection of random, odd moments. It is also pretty messy and muddled towards the end like it didn’t know how to wrap things up. This is a shame because there are lots of elements to enjoy – like Ruth Wilson as a sex robot, the culture clash between Enn and Zan (their montages are cute) and the soundtrack.
This is very offbeat so won’t appeal to the masses, but if you’re up for something a bit off the wall, definitely give this a go.
In cinemas from Friday 11th May