About the girl and for the girls To the rhythms of “Hava Nagila” from the closet covered with narcotic smoke falls into the eyes of the astonished family a cutely awkward in movements, absolutely confused girl – so begins this comedy of the very beginning of the 2000s. "What happened to her?" She was such a good girl! one of the many venerable old ladies asks. And life happened to her. These are the notorious stated in the title of the film 100 problems.
Giving high hopes pianist Claire (Alicia Witt) lives, in general, quite well: she is young, attractive, her career is predicted dizzying, everything is fine with her personal life, best friends are always there, her sister will soon get married... But all of a sudden everything went, as they call it, "not to notes." The groom treacherously abandoned, the earthquake deprived the roof over his head. And the parental home, where she had to move from the destroyed apartment, meets her with turmoil about the upcoming wedding, a father who is in crisis not quite of middle age (brilliantly melancholic Elliott Gould) and deaf to her troubles. At one of the regular parties, a friend sits a broken Claire on the couch and draws with red lipstick on the mirror something more like Flabber from the film of the same name, but in fact turns out to be the Mona Lisa. The shy and often preposterous Claire must become a mysterious seducer to recover from previous losses. Will she find something that will give her happiness and peace, and in general - and is it in the Mona Lisa? . .
From a galaxy of such romcoms about “girl” problems, this one stands out with a very dosed sentimentality. Yes, it has signs of this genre: textbook scenes "girl in depression" - littered with mountains of pillows, blankets and empty boxes of sweets heroine lies in a room with tightly curtained windows; crazy big family and handsome, shedding balm on the wounded heart (American actor with a native American name and surname Ivan Sergey). All this results not in a meaningless pink gum, but in a colorful, somewhere even tragicomic film with quite high-quality humor. The director strikes a balance between two storylines: Claire’s equivalent attempt to forget her ex-fiancé and creative search for herself. Her intentions and moods are changing at lightning speed and it is very interesting to watch her. However, each character, even perhaps far from being secondary in this mess, is bright and allows you to make an impression of yourself: what is one huge Jewish family of Claire, in which no person is a reason to look closely.
“One Hundred Problems and a Girl” does not claim any high status or significant niche in the history of cinema. Rather, on the contrary – it is absolutely charming, ironic, not stupid “weekend film”, leaving behind a pleasant impression, and perhaps even a desire to reconsider. Especially useful for those like the heroine at the very beginning of the film - sad and depressed overlords of the bed. Removes the decadent mood at once. Checked out.
9 out of 10