Walk of Shame (2014)

Walk of Shame (2014)

Walk of Shame is an American comedy film written and directed by Steven Brill. The film was released in the United States on May 2, 2014, by Focus World.[3] The film stars Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Gillian Jacobs, Sarah Wright, Ethan Suplee, Oliver Hudson and Willie Garson. This film was originally distributed by FilmDistrict. However, when Focus Features absorbed FilmDistrict, this was sold to Focus Features' new division Focus World.

Storyline

Meghan Miles is a TV correspondent who works at a local Tv station. She gets an opportunity to work at a network. She goes home to celebrate with her boyfriend. Her friends show up to celebrate with her. But they find her despondent. It seems like her boyfriend left without saying good bye and the network is leaning towards someone else. Her friends convince her to go out and get drunk. They get her to put on a hot dress. She eventually gets so drunk that a guy offers to take her home but she prefers to go to his place. And she spends the night. When she wakes up she gets s call telling her that the network is reconsidering her so she has to go to work but her car was towed away and her wallet which in her purse is also in it. And she left her phone at the guy's place. She then finds herself wandering around downtown LA and runs into drug dealers and people think she's a hooker. So she has to find a way get to work. And even the police are after her.

Plot

Beginning with a montage of bloopers entailing reporters losing their professional demeanor with cursing, freudian slips of sexual innuendos and ending with local channel KZLA6 (a likely parody of KTLA) segment reporter Meghan Miles (Elizabeth Banks) who has the undesired paranormal ability of turning cats psychotic towards her, being swarmed at an animal shelter, also an integral plot device. Meghan is being considered for an anchor position with the cnb network and her interview with network executives has her answering her final question, claiming "I'm a good girl". Two weeks after the interview, her producer, Dan Karlin (Willie Garson) receives a call that out-of-town Wendy Chang is being chosen over her, a likely tokenism requirement. Upset over her steady boyfriend leaving her and taking his stuff, her two friends take her out clubbing and Megan drinks heavily. Being locked out of the club on a fire escape from a one way door, Gordon (James Marsden), a handsome and charismatic man woos her and takes her to his place where they indulge in frat house-style games ending with Megan waking up in his bed in just her underwear. Receiving a call that Chang has racy pictures of her circulating and Megan is hired, has her collecting her clothes from around the place, she comes across a cat, with its eyes turning shiny. Trapping it under a box is futile as it reappears unrevealed. She flees the place with just her car keys, leaving behind her phone. Outside, her car is towed past her with her purse inside and the call buttons to the buildings residents is just numbers. She walks down the street, coming across an off duty taxi, but strongly insisting that he drive her to the "tow-to place", referring to the impound lot. He reluctantly does, instead driving her to the Tattoo strip club, Megan refusing to give in to his demand of "dances" has her dashing away, starting her slew of a misinterpreted crime spree of a hooker to gang member and other mishaps by the police force.

Cast

• Elizabeth Banks as Meghan Miles
• James Marsden as Gordon
• Gillian Jacobs as Rose
• Sarah Wright as Denise
• Ethan Suplee as Officer Dave
• Oliver Hudson as Kyle
• Willie Garson as Dan Karlin
• Kevin Nealon as Chopper Steve
• Bill Burr as Officer Walter
• Vic Chao as Shift Captain
• Larry Gilliard, Jr. as Scrilla
• Ken Davitian as Immigrant CAB driver
• P. J. Byrne as Moshe Schwartz
• Alphonso McAuley as Pookie
• Bryan Callen as Figueroa Drug Dealer
• Tig Notaro as Impound Woman
• Niecy Nash as Bus Driver
• Da'Vone McDonald as Hulk

User Review

Walk of Shame belongs to the sub-genus of films which usurp the clichés of the modern vulgar comedy and bring them a female treatment, something which has worked well in some occasions (Bridesmaids, The To Do List) and fatally failed in other ones (The Heat, Bad Teacher). Walk of Shame is on some intermediate point, because the solid performances compensate on some way a weak and unimaginative screenplay which loses many opportunities to exploit the stereotypical "walk of shame" situation. I would say that Walk of Shame is kinda like an adult version of Adventures in Babysitting, because both films portray a woman completely outside her element who must face the challenges of the big city (and, as a "coincidence", these challenges also include criminals, identity confusion and improvised songs). The whole cast from Walk of Shame makes a competent work, but the film's strongest point is Elizabeth Banks, who has been stealing scenes in an uncountable number of films and TV series (specially, in Pitch Perfect, 30 Rock and Slither) for many years. Banks takes the maximum advantage of the predictable situations and humorous clichés she's assigned, proving that, yes, there are occasions in which a good actor can rescue a mediocre screenplay to some point. Besides, she's well supported by the rest of the cast: Gillian Jacobs is as enthusiastic and credible in her role as she always is; James Marsden makes an adequate work as the gallant; and Kevin Nealon, Ethan Suplee, Sarah Wright and Alphonso McAuley make a good work in their brief roles. I don't know if the humor from Walk of Shame exceeds the line of bad taste with some racist and sexist jokes; I wouldn't have minded if they had been very good, but they aren't, and they end up feeling like lazy attempts to bring an audacious and subversive edge to a story which didn't need it. And, talking about sexism, I have to mention how well Banks looks with the yellow dress she wears in this movie; my apologies for pointing that out, and I won't say more. So, Walk of Shame is a mediocre comedy which kept me moderately entertained mainly because of the performances, and I can give a slight recommendation to it because of that.