Rating: C-
Chelsea Peretti might be the reigning queen of deadpan absurdist comedy. Best known as Gina Linetti on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the comedienne has flexed her comedic muscles to great acclaim on television and over several hilarious stand up specials.
Spinster, the new film from director Andrea Dorfman, certainly allows Peretti plenty of space to deliver her trademarked brand of humor, thanks in part to the script from writer Jennifer Deyell. That alone is almost enough to make Spinster worthwhile.
Peretti stars as Gaby, a perpetually single woman whose 39th birthday sends her down a spiraling search for meaning. What does it mean to be single in the modern world? Is it possible to find and achieve your dreams as you’re pushing 40? How does one even live as a self-described “spinster” in the modern world?
While Peretti is irrefutably charming in this role, the film plays out less like a narrative than it does a series of decent scenes thrown together without many threads holding them together. Deyell seems to be checking a series of boxes in her depiction of modern dating. Showing her character swiping left and right on a dating app? Check. Monologue about who needs dating to feel fulfilled? Check. Montage of bad dating experiences? Check.
Another actress besides Peretti might’ve meant that Spinster was too tedious to enjoy. Indeed, it does get rather repetitive fairly quickly. Peretti, however, delivers her lines with her trademarked, deadpan wit and snark. In a lot of ways, Deyell’s script feels perfect for Peretti, even if it’s lacking in cohesive narrative threads.
Even with Peretti’s charms, so many of the supporting roles are flat caricatures more than actual characters. Once again, it feels here like so much box checking meant to serve the thesis of the film—that one can live a happy, successful life and still be single—instead of serving real purpose. That said, Spinster does kind of work as a modern parable about living life as best you can.
It’s difficult to call this film a rom-com, lacking any central romance, though it could be argued that the romance is between Gaby and herself. At its heart, Spinster is a story about finding satisfaction through your own means and living your life the way you want, not the way you feel you’re supposed to. There was something kind of satisfying in that message, even if the narrative it took to deliver it wasn’t always the best.
In the end, however, I doubt any but the biggest Peretti fans will pull much enjoyment from Spinster. Good intentions and messaging or no, so much of the film is lackluster in all the wrong ways. While Peretti herself is, indeed, a very bright spot, there’s only so much she can do to hold up the film and, unfortunately, it seems too big a task even for someone with her immense strengths. That said, Peretti certainly does shine and anyone missing Gina Linetti’s sarcasm and wit since the actress left Brooklyn Nine-Nine will absolutely find some measure of solace here.
Spinster is now available via on demand platforms.
