Her City View

For the New York premiere of The Year of Spectacular Men film, I headed to the new Landmark Theater to screen the film and then hangout with the cast and crew during the after party.

I was invited as media to the screening and after party. Any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

Written by Christina Chin, who's hip, fashionable and located in New York City.

The Year of Spectacular Men is very much a family affair, with Lea Thompson directing her real life daughters Zoey and Madelyn Deutch, and their father Howard Deutch producing.


After the screening, I joined in the after party at Legacy Records and got to meet with Lea Thompson, who I personally have loved since Back to the Future!


As a director, Lea Thompson shared

"I cut my teeth in the early eighties, during the John Hughes era, so I've always been fascinated by the dance of young single people. These were stories John, my husband (Howard Deutch) and many other directors and writers explored tirelessly during that time, but there are so few takes on the girl's perspective. Plus I always knew Madelyn could write, she hasn’t stopped since about seven years old, and she's always made me laugh so I inspired her to take a crack at a feature script."

I also met the lovely star and screenwriter Madelyn Deutch, who also indicated she loved being part of a movie with their family.

"We both agreed, young women are a group that's embarrassingly under-served. Aside from a few choice shows, I couldn't believe how alone I felt when scrolling through a platform, or changing the channel. And it's not because I am picky, it's because our voices aren't exactly being given a megaphone. We wanted to challenge that, even if it was just with our own little movie-that-could."

Deutch describes the seed from which the film grew.

"Most generations seem to agree that your early twenties are a brutally transient time, where you have all this self doubt and you are asking all the big questions, but I think being a millennial in your early twenties can be triply complex.

We're (often) this very privileged generation of kids with piles of opportunity and a blank canvas to paint the life you want but we're paralyzed by an enormous pressure to "make a difference" and stand out in a world that is extremely loud, incredibly fast, and undeniably globalized. I feel like people are hungry for something a little more intimate, vulnerable, and handmade. And independent filmmaking often feels like the last man standing in that regard."

MY REVIEW

This likable indie rom-com chick flick for the millennial crowd goes through a year in the life of Izzy (Madelyn Deutch), a recent grad looking for some meaning and purpose, meandering through life and living off her sister while often making typical bad decisions with guys.

Her aimlessness is in sharp contrast to her movie star/model younger sister Sabrina (Zoey Deutch) who seems to have it together with a steady relationship and successful career.

There are some great snark lines and hilarious scenes often involving Izzy and the guy du jour that often reminds me of Tinder date stories gone wrong, but also some heartfelt family moments, no doubt due to the fantastic sibling chemistry that shines on screen.


SYNOPSIS

Izzy Klein has (barely) graduated from college, broken up (sorta) with her boyfriend, and is stranded in New York City with a bad case of pre-real-world millennial-itis. Unsure of what the next step is, her movie star little sister Sabrina convinces her to move back home to Los Angeles and into her shared apartment with movie star boyfriend Sebastian, where they can keep an eye on rudderless Izzy.

Emotionally unable to deal with the loss of her father, and slightly distracted by her mother Deb's newfound love affair with loopy yogi Amythyst, Izzy funnels her energy into dating a colorful bouquet of five complicated and spectacular men: Aaron, Ross, Logan, Mikey, and Charlie, over the course of the next year.

Coping just barely with the help of her trusty notebook, she falls in and out of some not so romantic romances, and figures out that when it totally feels like the end of your story, it's often just the beginning.

Cast: Zoey Deutch, Madelyn Deutch, Lea Thompson, Jesse Bradford, Cameron Monaghan, Nicholas Braun, Brandon T. Jackson

Director: Lea Thompson
Screenwriter: Madelyn Deutch
Producers: Gordon Gilbertson, Howard Deutch, Daniel Roth, Damiano Tucci