This scrappy female-fronted mainstream comedy was savaged by US critics, but it’s hard to see why. Sure, it’s not out to reinvent the wheel, but the script is witty, the direction sharp and the leads very likeable. Comedienne Ari Graynor and co-writer Lauren Miller play Kate and Lauren, a pair of struggling New York flatmates who supplement their meagre earnings with a phone sex line. What follows are sisterly bonding, romantic misadventures and lashings of dirty talk.
The film’s strength is its depiction of female friendships. Taking its cue from the likes of ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘For a Good Time, Call...’ balances bad taste gags (mainly in the form of diverting but unnecessary celebrity cameos) with a warm-hearted depiction of platonic love. And perhaps it’s this surface similarity to ‘Bridesmaids’ which got critics’ backs up. But considering the number of interchangeable comedies about the bonding experiences of immature males, such objections feel hypocritical.