I adore cynical realism, of which this film contains plenty; but I despise movies which promote the idiotic myth that a person is only allowed to live a solitary life if there's something horribly wrong with them, and this movie just wallows in it. Yuck to that. The truth is that marrieds & couples live much more miserable lives than singles, which is plainly evident by how often they murder each other IRL. There are a few funny moments here, but the overall message is still that if a woman is alone, she and everyone around her must constantly question & justify her solitude, and she always really secretly wishes for a partner. A very disempowering message for women. Prepare to be overloaded with cringey hipster stereotypes like knitting & dumb guys going hiking with no supplies & restaurants decorated like a mythical grandma-kitchen where no chefs wear hairnets & "real" food (at least she didn't call it "nourishment"!) is served on big stupid rectangle plates or maybe a bucket or a wagon wheel or old carburetor.

Spinster 2020 15 Director: Andrea Dorfman Starring: Chelsea Parretti, Susan Kent, Charlie Boyle, Bill Carr, David Rossetti, Nadia Tonen, Kirsten Olivia Taylor etc

Overall rating 92/100

Spinster is about a 39 year old caterer, who has not found the right man for her, she must go on a journey within herself to find what she really wants in life and focus on herself. Wow Spinster was fantastic, and offered something relatively fresh in terms of themes and perspectives of love, so let's talk about this more in detail.

First of all, the film had likeable characters, a great main performance and chemistry between characters. I thought the main comedic performance from Chelsea Peretti was fantastic, she made this movie for me, she was instantly likeable as soon as she appeared on screen, with heaps of charm and relatability with her character she was just a delight to watch, most of the characters in the film were also incredibly likeable, with different views and perspectives on love to balance out the argument made by Chelsea's character. A lot of the character and actors had fantastic chemistry as well, I really liked a lot of the relationships that were developed and created in this movie especially, with Chelsea Peretti and Nadia Tonen as well as Kirsten Olivia Taylor. Both characters of Liza and Adele, really served a purpose as there own characters but also with developing Gaby's character as well, both filled a whole that Gaby as a character was missing throughout the movie, having a child, and a friend who has similar attitudes to you in terms of love, so this was great, and all the actors had instant chemistry when on screen with each other.

My next few positives would be the charming tone, humour, and Different themes on love. The film just had an instant charming tone, this was largely due to the connection to the main character, and her finding herself and delivering a different and non- generic message to the audience gave Spinster a charm that never went away. The film was also very funny, the type of relatable and blunt humour by Chelsea Peretti was right up my street,and made me laugh out loud on multiple different occasions balancing it's tones perfectly. I also really liked the different themes on love to other movies like this. I loved that the movie showed different themes to the usual generic rom com movie, it made it okay for women to be by themselves and too be happy, and also highlighted women wanting to focus on Careers first which reflects more on women in society today which is a good thing.

My only couple of negatives would be the rushed pacing and the slightly awkward performances/characters. The movie did feel very rushed for me in places, this made the impact of some heartfelt scenes or scenes for development for the characters didn't sink in as well as perhaps they could of done, I also found some of the performances fairly awkward to watch, the performances from Susan Kent Bill Carr were not great and I didn't connect to their characters whenever they were on screen and they were just awkward to watch on screen.

My final few positives would be the great character arc, clever script and unique and satisfying ending. The character arc for Gaby was one of the best parts of the movie, every scene or character contributed towards her arc and change as a person, and made her the person she was at the end of the movie, so it was well thought out and really made you connect with her character, the script was also really clever in terms of expressing different views of love an balancing the arguments for both, there was really insightful and clever things said about the pressures and stereotypes for women as well as contradicting that with insights into single women's life or regrets/ not needing to have kids which was great, and finally Spinster had a clever and unique ending, even if they went with the teased romantic ending I would have been happy due it feeling well earned and very charming, but in a way I am glad they made it a very satisfying end for Gaby as a character, accepting focusing on herself and her career and not needing a romantic relationship to do that so this was great.

Overall, despite a few off performances and slight pacing issues, Spinster is a charming and funny rom com. Which highlights Chelsea Peretti's comedic talents with a unique and fresh feeling rom com that doesn't go for the generic plot that you are used to.

People describing this as a rom-com are probably why it has such a low rating. I'd call it a coming of age tale for women closing in on 40. There are comedic moments, there are caustic moments, there are heart warming moments, just like life. I love Chelsea Peretti and movies that respect the non-cookie-cutter beauty of life. If you do, too, you'll probably dig this movie.