Girl Most Likely/Imogene (2012) - Wiig is great as another dysfunctional woman in Berman & Pulcini's unfocused fare

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+ Worst Poster of the Year
 

The sorriest poster of 2012 to be sure, this pink-hued thing for Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman's Girl Most Likely with miserable-looking Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss win Film Excess' Worst Poster of the Year

Imogene is a teetering middle-aged woman in New York, who loses her shallow boyfriend, her shallow friends and her magazine job and then stages a suicide attempt that she hopes will solve all of her problems. Instead, it gets her home to live with her problematic mother and brother.

I really looked forward to Girl Most Likely, based on its funny trailer and the good people involved, its star Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids (2011)) first and foremost. Wiig is really good in the film, and she makes it float as an enjoyable escapade, but she and the other actors cannot hide the fact that it's script and concept is half-baked at best. Michelle Morgan (Middle of Nowhere (2008)) is the responsible writer. In my opinion, it needed a serious core and more of a sense of general direction (the meaning of the title, for instance, never comes into play, (and was also first picked after the first screening in Toronto under the film's inauspicious working title Imogene.)) The persistent quirkiness of the characters instead come off as a little forced, which is a shame. A much better film was hiding somewhere in this material, I think.

Girl Most Likely does have some laughs, and its other notable players worth mentioning favorably include Bob Balaban (Ghost World (2001)) and charming young Darren Criss (Glee (2010-15)) as Wiig's love interest.

The change of title after its release indicates a generally unfocused film, unfortunately, which isn't among the most successful from its directing couple Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who have previously delighted especially with their quaint masterpiece The Extra Man (2010). They are now in post with Ten Thousand Saints (2015) a drama with Asa Butterfield, Ethan Hawke, Hailee Steinfeld, Emile Hirsch and others.

Related posts:

Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
American Splendor (2003) or, Happily Unhappy Together

Another better but still thoroughly bad poster for Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's Girl Most Likely

And a third ... Wiig looks nice, but this can hardly even be called a poster

Watch the hilarious trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 1.3 mil. $ (US only)

= Some uncertainty although almost certainly a big flop

[Girl Most Likely may have been made for a scant budget of up to 5 mil. $, but that would still make it an very big flop. Its star and genre make it best suited for its home market, where it didn't catch any fire, and it has only had cinematic releases in 13 other countries worldwide. Some of its failure undoubtedly can be attributed to its really awful posters.]

What do you think of Girl Most Likely?

What is your favorite Kristen Wiig-moment in anything she has done so far?