For a Good Time, Call... (2012)

In Manhattan, the nerd aspirant editor Lauren Powell (Lauren Anne Miller) is dumped by her boyfriend Charlie (James Wolk) that is expatriated to Rome. Meanwhile, the manicure Katie Steele (Ari Graynor) can not afford the raise in the rent of her apartment at the Gramercy Park. Their common gay friend Jesse (Justin Long) brings Lauren to share the apartment with Katie, but they are college enemies and have difficulties to accept each other. Katie also works in a phone sex line but her income is very low. When Lauren loses her lousy job and is not accepted in a publishing house, she decides to use her knowledge to make a profitable business in sex for Katie and herself. But when Lauren's parents unexpectedly appear in the apartment, their friendship is tested. "For a Good Time, Call..." is an uneven comedy, funny in certain moments and lame in others. The religious fanatic in very unfunny; the slut Katie being a virgin is something ridiculous. But there are many scenes that make laugh. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Para se Divertir, Ligue..." ("For a Good Time, Call...")Note: On 21 July 2016, I saw this film again.

Low budget unfortunately often means low entertainment because of lack of experience and lack of time taken to hone the film. It seems as though sometimes comedians and amateur film makers get over excited and cram out some silly movie. I believe that For A Good Time Call this is exactly what happened. Now that being said it isn't a bad movie. It was decently entertaining, raunchy without being disgusting and over the top, and cute. It felt like it dragged a little bit but definitely got the point across and even had some fun cameos. It was far from perfect and it didn't blow me away but for all that it was, it works really well. Actually much of the time I kept thinking what a great pilot/premise this would have been for a TV comedy and I think it would have really worked well but of course would have to be on a cable network for sure. The sexual innuendo is the never ending gag in the film but given the whole plot it works quite well and you certainly will chuckle. It's well made with an okay script that will adequately entertain you but not much beyond that.Mrs. Seth Rogen aka Lauren Miller plays one half of the lead gals. She does a really good job as the sweet and innocent Lauren Powell who eventually comes around and becomes a sex call operator. She is believable and appropriately sweet in her role. The wild child of the duo is played by Ari Graynor who certainly fits the stereotypical easy gal role. Surprisingly the two of them do click which is vital for this film. Their chemistry isn't outstanding but it is solid considering how different their characters are (which is the point.) Both roles are a little cut and dry but right for this movie. Justin Long, god bless him, tries very hard in this rambunctious role as the gay best friend of both girls. He sort of overdoes it and thank goodness they didn't put him in it more than they did because he's fun but any more of him would have been simply too much. Still he has his moments and the role is mostly fun. James Wolk, Mimi Rogers and Don McManus are particularly good in small cameo roles. Speaking of cameos it was a lot of fun seeing Kevin Smith, Seth Rogen and Nia Vardalos in small but very funny roles. I hate Seth Rogen and this was the perfect amount to see him on screen.This is really director Jamie Travis' first full length feature and he does pretty well with the script. The film's setting is mostly in the girl's apartment but you never feel stifled so he definitely makes the most of a low budget and a "just okay" script. The script was co-written by the aforementioned Mrs. Rogen (Lauren Miller) and there is some genuine comedic talent here. I think its just a little grandiose for a full length feature film. Something about the characters and story would have just worked better in small doses (like a half hour sitcom.) The cleverness to the film is the spoofing of typical romantic comedies, and the bizarre relationship between the two main girls. Most of the time you think the two of them are going to end up together but in reality the film is simply spoofing the close relationship of two best friends. All in all it wasn't so bad and it was fun. Was it amazing? No not even close. It had a lot of holes in it but for an indie comedy it was definitely worth a brief look. 7/10

I had to give 10 this movie, though it is not the most hilarious comedy I have every seen but I'm shocked it got only 5,6 average. This was certainly the funniest comedy far I have seen this year. After the trailer I had mixed feelings: it could go reeeal wrong. But fortunately I hadn't. It was fun from the beginning to the end, not a moment when I wanted to "hang up". The not so well-known (first time I saw them) girls acted brilliantly, the situations and dialogues were fresh, realistic. I also loved Justin Long's part, he was great, too. On the whole: have a nice time and watch it, though not alone....I made this mistake and I really missed a girlfriend to giggle with - as this movie is not only about sex, laughing but also some new-found feeling of deep friendship. Love it!

Has the bar of crudeness in a comedy been raised after the release of Jamie Travis' For a Good Time, Call...? Possibly. After all, only recently have we been seeing that women can be just as explicit if not more-so than their male counterparts. I heard some fun reactions from people who either saw the trailer or the actual film at hand here and a few stated they were appalled at the way the humor was conducted. Let me put it this way; after hearing men reiterate the passion they have for the size of their private parts and their ability to pick up and have sex with any women, it was somewhat pleasantly different and original to hear women converse about vibrators, phone sex, and different slang terms such as "phanal" ("phone anal" for the literate).To put it simply, this is a very funny and surprisingly warm movie with a contagiously raunchy side. It's no different than one of the modern-day works of Judd Apatow, where characters can be crude and brazenly filthy, yet open up later in the film and reveal their deeper, more intimate side. It just so happens that we are given two female protagonists here that carry a lion's weight of the film effortlessly and poetically; the last things I was expecting to say about a film centering around two acquaintances drumming up an outdated phone sex business.Lauren Powell (Lauren Miller) was the smart-girl in school who always seemed destined for greatness and who was always seemingly benefited from mommy and daddy's money. Katie Steel (Ari Graynor) was the narcissistic popular one who seemed benefited from absolutely nothing. One night in college, Lauren was forced by her best friend Jesse (Justin Long, in quite possibly the most brashly gay role this year) to drive Katie home and after, let's say, a poor circumstance, Katie was left in the middle of nowhere.Fast-forward a few years later, when Lauren is down and out after being dumped by her boyfriend and Katie's apartment is about to be sold to another client if she can not pay rent. Jesse cunningly arranges for Lauren and Katie to spend the summer sharing Katie's apartment together and reluctantly, with much contention in the air, they do. When it is learned that Katie runs a phone sex business in her home, Lauren, at first appalled, realizes that there is a boatload of money to be made in the business and decides to become Katie's business partner when the job she wants falls through. Several filthy calls and credit cards later, Lauren wants to have her own line at the newly made 1-900-MMM-HMMM, because she feels she has gone too far in her boring, good-girl life.The movie realistically portrays how girls carry out their contention between one another when forcefully paired together. Not so much through cat-fights, but through smarmy little remarks back and forth, and how one tends to be more ladylike and human than the other one. Then it shows their slow, awkward, and shaky progress towards friendship before they are blossoming with joy from being around each other.It's that and the idea that the film doesn't overcompensate on the infinite number of dirty things these women can say to their customers or vice-versa, but also explores them as characters with emotions, personality, and feelings. Of course amidst all that, we get fun cameos from Kevin Smith, a taxi-cab driver, and Seth Rogen, an airplane pilot, both horny and looking for a good time on the phone.For a Good Time, Call... is like the best comedy to ever deal with phone sex and will be for many, many years to come. Sure at times the film has a difficult time escaping its own dirty nature, yet it zips along with its bubbly energy and largely is elevated by its tremendously talented, spunky leads. Ari Graynor is terrifically energetic here, as is Lauren Miller, but the performance that did it for me was Justin Long's passionately convincing, if over the top, gay character who continues to check up on his friends even long after they've committed to a solid, likable relationship. And if anything, this film is definitely one of the year's brightest and funniest comedies. It's sweet, memorable, and effervescently fun; pretty much all of the things phone sex isn't.Starring: Ari Graynor, Lauren Miller, Justin Long, Seth Rogen, and Kevin Smith. Directed by: Jamie Travis.