Jack and I really liked this story of women working in the man's world of high finance--the sexism, the intrigue, the suspicion, and more. It's as if Skyler White moved from running the car wash to a job on Wall Street. Anna Gunn (who earned many credits before her 62 episodes of Breaking Bad as Ms. White) is a breath of fresh air, with the size 12 figure of a real human and the acting chops to carry off the confidence of the lead character Naomi. Sarah Megan Thomas (new to me) and Alysia Reiner (played the bitchy warden in Orange is the New Black and dozens of other roles including one in The Vicious Kind) not only shine as Naomi's nervous underling Erin and Naomi's former college buddy Sam, but the pair also co-wrote the story with screenwriter Amy Fox and share producing credit with eleven other women and six men, if the traditional first names are to be trusted. Yeah, there are some men in the cast, but who cares? Okay, okay, James Purefoy (four episodes of the Showtime series Episodes and lots of thing I didn't see) adds to the mix as Naomi's wily boyfriend and Nate Corddry (after I wrote about him in The Ugly Truth he has been busy, including on 34 episodes of Harry's Law, 33 of Mom, and St. Vincent) is cute and befuddled as usual.
Tautly directed by Meera Menon (her second feature), this is the first project of production company Broad Street Pictures, founded by Thomas. This is Fox's second screenplay in eleven years (the first was an adaptation of a play she also wrote). Kudos to Production Designer Diane Lederman, who coincidentally was set dresser on Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and to costume designer Teresa Binder Westby who has a quite a few credits as assistant, including Silver Linings Playbook, and is now coming into her own as department head.
The composing team of Alexis Marsh and Samuel Jones AKA Alexis & Sam gives us a cool soundtrack, 6 ½ minutes of which can be streamed from their soundcloud page (scroll down).
Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is 80% and its audiences' 73. It's probably leaving these parts Thursday night. Go see it.
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