In a World… takes place in Hollywood’s voice-over industry. In a World… mainly focuses on Lake Bell’s character. She wants to do voice-overs, but can only get work in vocal coaching and accents. Her narcissistic father is about to receive a lifetime achievement award in the industry, but does nothing to further her career. In a World… depicts the voice-over industry as a man’s world in part because of guys like her father, who chooses to mentor a guy, whom he enjoys hanging around with.
In a World… has numerous subplots that are not fully explored, which makes In a World… more like real life, but not necessarily great for a movie. Sometimes a person sleeps and flirts with one person then ends up in a relationship with another. Sometimes couples have brushes with temptation and infidelity, but they stay together. In a World… does not allow audiences to rely on the normal movie narrative cues to anticipate what will happen next though it has a formulaic tone. If you get a happy ending, In a World… earns it, and the end is not altogether happy.
In a World… creates fully developed human characters that engage in awful, redemptive, and mediocre acts-sometimes simultaneously. There are no villains or heroes. None of the characters are clearly the best. The sleazy guy is actually kind of fun and charming. The trophy girlfriend is probably the most morally functional adult other than the sister’s husband.
Even though Lake Bell wrote, starred and directed In a World…, she gives each actor more than one moment to shine. Rob Corddry needs to just star in a movie. Cordrry always steals any movie that he is in: Warm Bodies, Butter, Rapture-Palooza, etc. I’m beginning to feel that way about Ken Marino too-I loved him in Agent Carter as the love-smitten gangster. There are some great cameos.
In a World… is definitely far from a perfect movie, but its weaknesses are also its strengths so I would recommend that you give it a shot.