Comic actor Lake Bell has some pressing concerns about life in Los Angeles. First, why are so many women dumbing down by pitching up? “You sound like a squeaky toy,” she says to one Betty Boop-voiced gal in “In a World . . . ,” Bell’s smart and punchy writing/directing debut.
The film’s primary concern, though, is the sexist and stodgy world of Hollywood movie trailers, which have yet to feature a female narrator. As Carol, a struggling voice coach — in one hilariously uphill struggle, she’s teaching Eva Longoria to be a cockney mob wife — Bell aims to crack the trailer voice-over industry. Per that uber-stereotypical opening line, she wants to be the first woman to utter the words, “In a world . . .”
The daffy but talented Carol finds little support from her father, Sam (Fred Melamed), the reigning king of trailer voice-overs, who loves his daughter but assures her in his velvety rumble that “the industry does not crave a female sound.” Despite Carol’s pleas for his help, he’s grooming Ken Marino’s slick voice-over artist, Gustav, as his successor instead.
Bell, a regular on “Childrens Hospital,” has assembled a crack supporting cast, which, along with “CH” co-star Marino, includes Demetri Martin as her twitchy, lovestruck manager, and Nick Offerman and Tig Notaro as colleagues. These comics do terrific things with Bell’s snappy dialogue: When the group attends a swanky party at Gustav’s, Notaro’s take is: “Why are we talking about him like we’re in West Egg?”
A side plot involving Michaela Watkins and Rob Corddry as Carol’s sister and brother-in-law, who take in Carol and whose marriage is going through a rough patch, feels a bit grafted on as a more straightforwardly emotional subplot, though both do a capable job with the material.
But this is Bell’s show, and she proves herself a versatile comedian, a first-rate impressionist (check out her Russian “Star Wars” stormtrooper!) and a shrewd satirist, especially of her own gender. “I love to read? So I’m, like, always reading?” chirps one receptionist in the sexy-baby voice that Bell skewers time and again.
She also targets the world of female-centric young adult fare with “The Amazon Games,” a hit “quadrilogy” for which Carol is vying to be the narrator. Roping in pal Cameron Diaz to star in its campy yet impressively plausible trailer (“It’s a Broad. New. World.”), Bell even deploys Geena Davis to rant about the “pseudo-feminist bulls – – t” that passes for cinematic girl power these days.
My own voice-over would go something like this: “This summer. One woman. Will see this movie. Again.”