This disastrous romantic comedy is loosely inspired by the far superior German film Run Lola Run. The practically non-existent story involves a woman named Lola (Ashleigh Sumner, who some may recognise from TV series The Event) running through San Francisco, desperate to make it to an important meeting.
We are lead to believe that her career and love life depend on her making it to this meeting, but it’s very hard to care about anyone involved. Sumner isn’t a bad actress, but the material she is given to work with is. The acting from the supporting cast is generally dreadful.
As if things weren’t bad enough, the film occasionally switches to wacky animation to illustrate Lola’s frantic lifestyle. It reminded me of the cartoon interjections in the Disney TV series Lizzie McGuire. In that, they worked. In this, it falls flat.
The question most on my mind throughout the film was: do men exist in San Francisco? I can only remember one male character in the entire film, and he said about ten words. Everyone else seems to be a homosexual female. It goes without saying that I don’t have a problem with women or gay people, but I was baffled why the filmmakers chose to completely remove people of other genders or sexualities from the film – heterosexual males, for example.
The artwork on the blu-ray and DVD makes the film look like a soft-core lesbian porn movie. Anyone hoping for a viewing experience of this nature will feel very disappointed, as will those who enjoy characterisation, quality filmmaking and compelling storylines.
A note on the disc: Peccadillo Picture’s blu-ray release of the film gives the film a generally fine 1080p transfer. The film’s original 1.85:1 aspect ratio is manipulated slightly into a 1.78:1 ratio. The disc is region free.
And Then Came Lola (2009), directed by Ellen Seidler and Megan Sidler, is available on blu-ray disc and DVD from Peccadillo Pictures, Certificate 15.
2 Comments
Oh please, it was a romp….a fantasy. Don’t be so offended that straight men weren’t included. Apparently you have no sense of humor. We lesbians liked it….you weren’t the intended audience. Get over it.
Thank-you for your comment. I am sorry you didn’t agree with my views of the film. I can assure you I do have a sense of humour, but sadly I did not find And Then Came Lola particularly amusing. I stand by my comments about the lack of heterosexual males in the film. I understand this film was intended for a mainly female homosexual audience, but I found the exclusion of people of other genders and sexual orientations rather odd. I once again like to make it clear that my response to the film was not in any way homophobic. I just didn’t like the movie.