Damsels in Distress

'Damsels in Distress'A The new sony Pictures Classics release and presentation of the Westerly Films production in colaboration with This-and-That. Created by Whit Stillman, Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer. Co-producers, Charlie Dibe. Directed, compiled by Whit Stillman.Purple Wister - Greta Gerwig Charlie Master - Adam Brody Lily - Analeigh Tipton Rose - Megalyn Echikunwoke Louise - Barbara Maclemore Xavier - Hugo Becker Frank - Ryan Metcalf Thor - Billy Magnussen Priss - Caitlin Fitzgerald Jimbo - Jermaine Crawford Depressed Darlene - Aubrey Plaza Ron Dewolfe - Zach Forest Mad Madge - Alia Shawkat "Freak" Astaire - Nick Blaemire Alice - Meredith HagnerA film that boosts laughs despite its finish credits, Whit Stillman's fanciful campus comedy "Damsels in Distress" is definitely an utter delight. Creating a welcome go back to helming following a lengthy sabbatical following 1998's "The Final Times of Disco," Stillman proves he still understands how to write crackling, articulate dialogue for cool preppie figures whom he loves poking fun at around with. Pic's youthful cast, brought by Greta Gerwig, features enough up-and-coming names on its roster to drag inside a more youthful demographic to supplement Stillman's older group of followers, that ought to save "Damsels" in the niche, upmarket margins. Sweet-natured Purple (Gerwig, "Greenberg") and her coed coevals Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke, "24," "That '70s Show") and Louise (Barbara Maclemore, "Gossip Girl") are university students on the mission. Devoted to creating Seven Trees U., their alma mater, a far more aromatic and enjoyable place, they aim to combat the Neanderthal male populace's body-odor problem by marketing good hygiene, and stoically accept it's their lot in existence up to now frat boys much more stupid and fewer good-searching than themselves. In the end, as Purple states within the pic's many quotable lines, "The inclination, very common, to continually seek someone 'cooler' than yourself (is) always a stretch, frequently a large stretch. Why don't you rather hire a company who's frankly inferior?" Among their other projects (Violet's long term ambition would be to invent a brand new dance craze) and philanthropic businesses, they run the suicide-prevention focus on campus in which the raspberry braid have the freedom, but simply to anybody verifiably depressed. Supported by Lily (Analeigh Tipton, "Crazy Stupid Love," "America's Next Top Model"), the latest addition for their clique, they are prepared to hurry to the assistance of anybody inside a tailspin following a recent break-up, their survival methods usually turning round the advisability of dating uglier, stupider males than yourself. Violet's help backfires on her behalf when one student, Priss (Caitlin Fitzgerald), occupies with Violet's own intellectually challenged b.f., Frank (Ryan Metcalf), a frat boy so dim he literally does not know the colour of own eyes. A minimum of he is able to identify colors, though, unlike his buddy Thor (Billy Magnussen, superb), that has been educationally handicapped by his manipulative parents' insistence he skip kindergarten. Later, Purple connects with Charlie (Adam Brody), among Lily's beaus, who choose Purple isn't all he appears and it has a present for reinvention. Pic is chockfull of daft digressions and sweetly silly subplots, however the ensemble goes in internet marketing by using such deadpan rigor, it plays like vintage screwball comedy without the pratfalls, aside from what should be probably the most uproariously funny suicide attempts in recent film history. Positively boiling with sharp, almost delicately distributed zingers, repeated phrases (Rose is continually on the suspicious vigil against "playboy or operator types"), and dialogue that is probably not so funny when repeated in isolation but is amusing in context, Stillman's script is really a factor of beauty. Helmer's comic timing is directly on the cash, however in a largely self-effacing, silently efficient method in which recalls that old-school craftsmen of Hollywood's golden age, like Howard Hawks inside a breezy mood. Because of the pic's retro feel, it's entirely appropriate the climax tips its hat to Fred Astaire having a dance scene patterned about the Astaire-Joan Fontaine rug-cut from "A Damsel in Distress" (1937). One can't help but question what Stillman would do using the plan for a complete-on musical, but despite the fact that this originates within the same well-heeled milieu he's formerly investigated, there is a quality here that indicates his 13-year hiatus from pointing has not done him any harm. Individuals inclined to dislike Stillman's work will not be convinced otherwise by "Damsels," but fans could be more than satisfied. Shot on HD, the pic does not have a similar glossy, glassy prettiness of Stillman's earlier film-shot work like "Metropolitan," "Barcelona" and "The Final Times of Disco," but it is still performed with professional polish by lenser Doug Emmett. Extra credit arrives costume designer Ciera Wells and "special styles" by Kristen Blomberg for kitting Purple and her buddies in the perfect type of prim but interesting A-line frocks and neat add-ons that endow all of them with a nice mixture of glamour and ladylike dowdiness.Camera (color, HD), Doug Emmett editor, Andrew Hafitz music, Mark Suozzo, Adam Schlesinger production designer, Elizabeth J. Johnson art director, John Goodwin set decorator, Emmanuelle Hoessly costume designer, Ciera Wells seem, Mikhail Sterkin re-recording mixer, Tom Paul choreographer, Justin Cerne special styles, Kristen Blomberg stunt coordinator, Anthony Vincent line producer, Jacob Jaffke assistant director, Curtis Cruz casting, Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee, Amy Britt, Anya Colloff. Examined at Venice Film Festival (closer, noncompeting), Sept. 10, 2011. (Also in Toronto Film Festival -- Special Presentations.) Running time: 99 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com