'Career Girls'

September 2, 1997

Let's face it, Secrets and Lies is a tough act to follow. And in my opinion, director Mike Leigh wasn't up to the task in his most recent film, Career Girls.

If you're a Mike Leigh fan, as I am, you may have noticed a pattern in his work. There's almost always a neurotic, anxiety-ridden character who's irritating as hell. Think of the daughter in Life is Sweet and the mother in Secrets and Lies. These characters worked because they were believable, oddly endearing, unique, and oh-so-annoying.

Now try to imagine a film with three neurotic, anxiety-ridden characters who're irritating as hell. What do you have? Oh-so-annoying to the third power. In fact, if there were an Oscar for the most irritating character, the competition would be tough among the lead characters in Career Girls.

Take Annie (skillfully actualized by Lynda Steadman with just the right amount of vulnerability). The young Annie is so neurotic that she can't look anyone in the eye when she speaks. Instead, she cocks her head shyly, revealing a nasty case of eczema. Her neurotic body language is challengedby her new roommate, Hannah (played equally deftly by Katrin Cartlidge). Hannah's vile, verbal attacks are exacerbated by an irritating hand gesture that suggests a kind of manual Tourette's Syndrome. She's not only irritating, she's nasty. When she notices Annie's facial rash, Hannah remarks that Annie's face looks as if she'd "done the tango with a cheese grater." Finally, when Annie befriends an overweight, ungainly male friend in her psychology class, he completes the trilogy of annoyance. It's a wonder either Annie or her new friend Ricky (an abbreviation for Richard Burton) ever connect since they both seem incapable of looking at one another.

The good news is, as the story progresses in flash forwards, Annie and Hannah become less irritating and more "normal." The bad news is, they also become more boring. Only Ricky becomes more annoying as he slips into mental oblivion, supposedly because he was wounded beyond repair by Annie's rejection of his awkward, amorous advances.

Sounds like I really hated this film. But I didn't. In fact, the actors brought credible depth to the characters. And the flash forward structure of the film served the story well. I was a bit confused by the nostalgic longing for the characters' mutual past, however. Unless I missed it, Leigh never fully revealed why the characters separated to begin with. I could very well have missed this detail, however, since I had a very difficult time understanding the dialogue. Just as Trainspotting presented linguistic challenges, so did Career Girls. Understanding the thick vernacular was complicated by a rapid-fire delivery, especially in Hannah's performance, and uneven sound mixing. Speaking of sound, I hope you like The Cure since the soundtrack was largely comprised of their music.

The biggest problem I had with Career Girls is that it didn't evoke a passionate response from me one way or the other. For me, the complex nature of Leigh's past work has left me hungry for more. Career Girls didn't satisfy my appetite. Maybe I've been spoiled by his other works. Maybe I just ate too much Taco Bell before the movie. You tell me . . .

Mary Johnson
is a professor of film at UCF and a mother. She is also a filmmaker working to get a film produced.