Howdy....so, there was an earlier thread about the new film 'Mistress America' staring Lola Kirke in which the aforementioned actress gets a pie in her face. Here is my short review of the scene/film:

While Ms. Kirke is certainly sexy/attractive, the pie hit was probably the most poorly done in recent film-making memory. The scene is dark/poorly lit (the actress is sleeping in her doom room) and we see mostly a profile (barely a 3/4 view) of her face. The pie hit (while she is still lying down asleep) could still have been good (done in close up), but the pie itself was quite "runny" and somehow only 'covers" barely one half of her face -- the side most poorly lit and furthest from the camera (she is still nearly in profile, again, barely a 3/4 view)....the actress sits up after being pied -- screaming multiple times (very annoyingly/jarringly) -- and we see just part of the poorly lit half the girl's face partly covered with runny cream as she reaches up to wipe the pie (not that she needed to, really)...the pie/post pie sequence lasts maybe 2.5 seconds and comes nearly at the very end of the film.

On a scale of 1 to 5 (In terms of quality pie hit), this ranks about a .7

Part of the disappointment is that early on we see the aftermath of a lit club pieing in the dorm hallway, and the pie remnants seem quite substantial and copious...leading one to think the eventual pie hit on the girl will be equally so.

As for the movie itself: The films is being called a "screwball comedy", but there were maybe 4 decent (not hilarious) laughs in the entire film, and no "screwball" stunts/antics/business that one might associate with the term/genre.

The film struck me as a "cut and paste" (formulaic) film: young/pretty (but not yet self-assured) college freshman girl in the big city, doesn't know anyone or fit in yet (and wants to be a member of a prestigious campus lit club), then meets up with an slightly older (big sister type who is wiser, hipper, and more connected to the big city scene), young girl has fun (parties, gets drunk, throws up) with her older friend and gets infatuated with her and inspired to write about her (quoting a few barely clever things she says) while also (a bit harshly) psych-profiling her in a fictional story, story gets found out and causes a rift in their friendship but which is ultimately restored (or smoothed over) as the young girl matures (still in her first semester at college) and the older friend (now seen as not as 'together' as previously thought, somewhat of a failure but still her own unique person) moves to another big city...the young girl -- now wiser and self-assured -- decides not to join the lit club (even after being "selected" via the aforementioned pie in the face)...throw in a few "quirky" characters (her male classmate crush, his psycho gf, and a 30-something couple and neighbor), plus a couple of scenes throwing satchels (containing what?) into the Hudson River, and some literary references (so you know this is "intelligent" film making)...and voila!: art house, indy cinema at its most innocuous and border-line banal.

1 and 1/2 stars (and that's being generous). Best to wait for its appearance on cable, or, avoid it all together.

I assume Greta Gerwig (the movie's costar and cowriter, and a Barnard grad) got the idea for the pie scene from a real-life initation ritual at Columbia:

http://www.wikicu.com/Senior_Societies

And another one for the "greatest disappointments bin."

Though the report is disappointing, thanks very much for the very thorough and thoughtful review, wamajama! You covered both the actual pieing and the broader "faux neo-screwball comedy [?]" elements of the movie very convincingly.

I've been wondering how well this scene played out since news of WAM in this film "broke" here a few weeks ago. At least now I can quit surfing google images on the chance that a screen capture from this film pops up, and won't have to worry about picking this film up when it comes out on DVD (at least, until it hits the bargain bins).

We should also keep in mind that tastes in pie scenes vary greatly from one pie fan to the next. From the earlier Messy Forum post on this movie:


I haven't seen the film (tt wasn't shown in my area, which is small enough not to get this kind of indie move fare), so I have no opinion on the pieing scene myself.

This is very true--there's always going to be a subjective element to judging and pie scene since tastes differ widely, and I know I've enjoyed a few scenes in the past that were judged to be failures by a majority of the community.

However, I did greatly appreciate wamajama's detailed review of the scene and, based on his critique (including that of the film overall), it sounds like there's a strong probability (though not a certainty) that I'll be at least somewhat disappointed in the scene based on my own likes and dislikes in mainstream WAM--I'll still seek out the scene when it becomes more widely available, but with more realistic expectations. I'm always very grateful to anyone who does work to scout out a scene that's not yet widely available (I'm sure this movie won't play anywhere within at least an hour of where I am) and provide a nice report on it, even if my own final verdict on it turns out to be different.

Thanks again!

Your Welcome! I actually enjoy doing movie/film reviews (used to do it "professionally" for a few years -- great way to see many free films, especially during a film festival season!).

AS to the pie scene, yes, tastes differ wildly, this is why I tried to describe what I saw in as much detail as possible, so as to give the reader a good sense of the scene and let him/her decide for themselves....but, like many here, I have seen thousands of pie hits/gags and use these memories as a "reference library" with which to base my judgement.

Folks may recall that several years back there was a bit of flap over the film 'Prime' (with Uma Thurman) in which the roommate of the main male lead can only finally break up with a girlfriend after pieing her, etc.....apart from the fke review (citing multiple pieings of women, and even Uma herself = false), and the fact that the one pieing shown was in a medium wide shot....the hit was actually quite good. Comparing this Prime wide shot with the close up shot in MA, I can honestly say that the Prime pie hit was far better; both were roughly profile view hits, but the Prime pie gag was: 1] a better/thicker pie, and 2] full facial coverage.

I saw a matinee showing (cheaper tickets) and am glad I did so, as I would have felt WAY more disappointment (with the gag and the film as a whole) had I paid full price.

What?! How did I miss that?

Me too, but I just found it: https://youtu.be/niYQn90QSYY?t=5m