One reason to check out indie films is the possibility of seeing future stars at the embryonic stage.
If you happened to stumble across a little movie called “Foxfire” back in 1996, you might have been knocked out by Angelina Jolie in a supporting role.
You certainly should have been. And when “Winter’s Bone” played small theaters a few years ago, it gave notice that someone named Jennifer Lawrence had arrived.
Something like that is going on in the otherwise routine indie titled (without asterisks on screen) “Izzy Gets the F—- Across Town.”
This film is a showcase for the actress Mackenzie Davis, who appears in every scene.
The Vancouver, B.C., native has had small parts in movies such as “The Martian” and “That Awkward Moment,” and she had a key role — the miraculously cool nanny — in “Tully.” Here, she owns the movie, and the role leaves little question about her range.
Davis plays Izzy, a heavy-boozing, newly unemployed couch-surfer. Waking up hungover in the bed of a stranger (Lakeith Stanfield, from “Get Out”), she learns from Instagram that her ex-boyfriend is throwing an engagement party that very afternoon.
This gives the movie structure: Izzy, completely broke at this moment and without a car, must get across LA by 5 o’clock to crash the party. The journey is implausibly difficult (“Nobody rides the bus in LA” is the breezy excuse for eliminating one obvious solution to the problem), but the movie wouldn’t exist without this contrivance. Along the way she encounters messed-up friends (nice to see former child star Haley Joel Osment), zany new acquaintances (Alia Shawkat), and, eventually, her sister (Carrie Coon, from “The Leftovers”), with whom Izzy used to have a musical act.
Izzy is convinced that she and her ex are destined to be together, an unpleasant fantasy that makes her tiresome to be around — no wonder people tend to edge away from her. It’s one of the bolder strokes in writer-director Christian Papierniak’s concept, since most movies labor to make their protagonists sympathetic at all costs.
Amid the Diablo Cody-style one-liners, a couple of things raise “Izzy” above the usual indie fare. One is Mackenzie Davis’ performance, which travels from cheeky humor to utter despair. It’s a theatrical turn, but clear evidence of talent.
The other is the music, notably the songs by Northwest dynamo Corin Tucker. One of her tunes provides the movie’s high point, when Izzy duets at a party with her sister. The film catches fire for a moment, and you can forgive the contrivances and the hipster title.
“Izzy Gets the F—- Across Town” (2½ stars)
A dark comedy about a messed-up woman (Mackenzie Davis) racing across L.A. to disrupt her ex-boyfriend’s engagement party. Average indie stuff for the most part, but Davis is a rising star, and the supporting cast is nice (Carrie Coon, Haley Joel Osment).
Rating: Not rated; probably R for language
Opening: Grand Illusion Cinema
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