Location: NY
"Grosse Point"
Directed by David Frankel
Written and Produced by Darren Star
Art Direction by Tom Warren
Set Direction by Lydia Marks
Costume Design by Patricia Field
Main Cast
Amy Adams as Hunter Fallow/Becky Johnson
Rachel McAdams as Courtney Scott/Laura Johnson
Isla Fisher as Marcy Sternfeld/Kim Peterson
Al Santos as Johnny Bishop/Brad Johnson
Leonard Roberts as Quentin King/Stone Jackson
Kyle Howard as Dave "The Stand In"
Alec Baldwin as Matt Anders/Dad
Amy Sedaris as Hope Lustig
Bill Hader as Rob Fields
Tagline: "When the director yells 'cut', that's when the real Drama begins"
Synopsis: Welcome to Grosse Pointe. Here the houses are super big. The cars are super fast. The girls are super hot. The guys are super studly. The parents are super understanding. The clothes are super trendy. The kids are all super smart. Everyone and everything in Grosse Pointe is just super...FAKE. That's because Grosse Pointe is the widely popular teen drama on the UBS network starring a cast of questionable actors.
Leading the cast is Hunter Fallow (Adams), a chain smoking, booze drinking, coke addicted Diva who plays squeaky clean Becky Johnson. Johnny Bishop (Santos) plays Becky's brother Brad Johnson. Bishop is a narcissistic air head underwear model turned actor who allows his stoner, surfer dude buddy Dave (Howard) to live in his trailer while he works as Johnny's stand-in. Matt Anders, a former teen idol with a secret, plays Becky and Brad's dad.
The Show is now in its fourth season and although it still gets huge ratings, the network decides to spice things up by making some additions. First they hire Rob Fields (Hader), a young director whose creativity keeps being thwarted by the demands of the newly appointed executive producer, Hope Lustig (Sedaris) who feels that the men on the show should never be fully clothed when they can help it. The last addition comes by way of Wisconsin. Courtney Scott is a fresh faced, wide-eyed actress hired to play bad girl Laura Johnson, Becky and Brad's cousin. At first, Hunter is not bothered by Courtney's presence but soon enough Courtney starts appearing on the cover of magazines, starts to get more fan mail, a better wardrobe and even a bigger trailer. The final straw for Hunter is when Courtney received an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Adolescent Programming Longer than 30 minutes but not exceeding 1 Hour. Now Hunter is determined to ruin Courtney's career, regain her position as Alpha Dog on "Grosse Pointe" and won't let anyone or anything stand in her way.
What the Press would say:
Director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) and writer/producer Darren Star (Sex and the City) team up to bring us "Grosse Pointe", an uproariously funny film adaptation of the short lived television series by the same name. The film follows the behind the scenes antics of the cast and crew of the Teen Drama "Grosse Pointe". The actors portraying the characters are way too old to be cast in a teen drama but they're supposed to be. The film is a satire of all the teen dramas like "Dawson's Creek", "One Tree Hill", "The O.C." and the granddaddy of them all "Beverly Hills 90210". These shows would hire actors that were well into their 20s to play high school students. The film takes it one step further and has actors in their 30s playing actors in their 20s who play high school students. There are some great scenes with Leonard Roberts (TVs "Heroes", Drumline) where they question his age.
The entire cast is great. They don't miss a beat in this witty, sharply written comedy. Although the entire cast hits the mark with the deadpan humor; the stand out performances are delivered by Amy Adams, Isla Fisher and the scene stealing Amy Sedaris and Alec Baldwin. Amy Adams is Fantastic as Hunter Fallow, a demanding Diva with a capital "D". The wonderful thing about the performance is that Adams never goes over-the-top with the performance which with a lesser actress could've been possible considering the subject of the script. Adams keeps Hunter Fallow's antics grounded in reality and super funny. She's the one we love to hate. Isla Fisher is terrific as Marcy Sternfeld. She is easily one of the hottest women on the st but is neurotic and whinny and allows Hunter to use her as her own personal doormat despite claiming to be her "BFF". The best scenes with fisher are when they show clips of "Grosse Pointe" (which by the way you can tell all the actors had fun hamming it up during these scenes.)
With relatively smaller roles than the rest of the cast, Amy Sedaris and Alec Baldwin make their scenes memorable. Amy Sedaris as Hope Lustig is knee slapping funny. She delivers her lines with gusto. Totally believable as a horny network executive. Alec Baldwin as Matt Anders will have you in tears whenever he is on-screen. Doing what he does best, Baldwin brings great depth to this otherwise one dimensional character of "Dad" who is secretly gay and is in love with his on screen son Johnny Bishop (Santos).
This film is funny, hip and edgy. Hopefully the Academy will take notice of this comedy. In the past comedies don't normally fair well at the Oscars with the rare exception. "Grosse Pointe" is one of those rare exceptions.
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actress - Amy Adams
Best Supporting Actress - Isla Fisher
Best Supporting Actress - Amy Sedaris
Best Supporting Actor - Alec Baldwin
Best Costume Design
Best Art DIrection
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