Mr. O'Hehir:

I couldn't help but post a reply to your review of "Shopgirl," which I managed to see last night. I am in total agreement. What a creepy, lifeless movie. "Taxi Driver" comes to mind, but Travis Bickle has more personality, and at least you know what he is thinking most of the time.

This movie epitomizes everything that is wrong with Steve Martin these days. He has let good taste replace life and vitality. "Arthur" this isn't.

Thank you for such a great and thoughtful review.

-Matthew

I just saw "Shopgirl," and after reading the "New York Times" rave review, I was happy to see a review that touched on some of the problems I had with the film. I have to say that, though, that O'Hehir is inaccurate when he writes that Jeremy (the slacker guy) asks Mirabella for her number and doesn't have a pen or paper at the laundromat. O'Hehir is actually mixing two scenes. In the laundromat, Jeremy asks for her number, but later, when the pen and paper come up, they have already had a date, and he is offering to give her his number--which she's not sure she wants, since she just had a pretty weird night with him. But that relatively minor inaccuracy aside, O'Hehir is dead on when he talks about the ickiness of the Steve Martin character (Ray). He is expressionless and jowly, and has none of the rumpled charm of Bill Murray in Lost in "Translation." And Ray's attitude toward the young woman is really pompous. I couldn't believe the wine sniffing or the fact that he warned her (after sleeping with her, by the way) that he wasn't looking for anything serious. He seemed unaware of how lucky he was to have such a beautiful and poised young woman willing both to sleep with him and to see him as a potentially serious relationship. I felt the film needed to comment in some way on Ray's obliviousness, but it seemed Martin--both in his screenplay and in his development of the Ray character--accepted the relationship as fitting and didn't see anything preposterous in his attitude.

I'm with S. Cavill. What is also torturous is having to read reviews by two morons (Zacharek and O'Hehir) who do not even have a basic understanding of criticism or film. What were they communications majors who knew somebody who worked at Salon? I don't like it - Waaah - Steve Martin's old - waaah - Sex scene was bad waaaah. Please both of you go take a basic Film 101 class at your community college. Please.

i just want to thank andrew o'hehir for properly expressing the unbelievable disgust that i was saturated with post-"shopgirl". i almost felt compelled to ask for my money back. "queasy terror" was an all too aptly put description of how i felt throughout the film, either as a result of martin or all of the cliche's, i don't know which. definitely both. there were countless moments where the audience either bursted out with laughter or rolled their eyes and made vomitting motions. did they screen-test this movie at all before they made it a myspace profile? i don't know how it got such raving reviews from a wide array of critics, but i will stand strong with o'hehir in saying that it was about as pleasant as crapping my pants.

disappointed in oakland

Andrew, my friend Susie and I saw a different movie than the one you described. We were so interested in her that Ray and the rest were superfluous. You mention a Bermangesque music backdrop, but this is a clasic Bergman movie. It is about one character looking for answers about herself.

Art masterpieces happen because of a touch a greatnes that touches us all. Two of her lines make this movie a jewel, and her delivery make it art: 'Why can't you love me?' and, at then end: 'I knew'. This movie will be the Casablanca of this half century.

Don't worry, we all have bad days. I slept through Annie Hall.

Jorge

When I saw Lost in Translation, I felt it borrowed a great deal from Shopgirl. The older bored rich white man mentoring the young bored poor woman. Both have main characters escaping their present and trying to find their niche. It would have been interesting to see this film as it was meant to be seen, rather than how the studio bent and beat it into what we have now. Rewind a couple of years to Winona Ryder doing "research" at Barney's, so now we get Claire Danes, now more famous for stealing a man from a pregnant girlfriend. It is highly likely we would have been having a conversation with how similar the two films were had Shopgirl gone into production on schedule.

First of all I think people are entitled to hate movies. Reviewing is harldy ever an objective profession and if it is to be of any use, it cannot be. However, Hehir's review comes across as childish disdain dressed up in fancy language with a little anti (or is it pro) New York angst thrown in for good measure. I loved Shopgirl the book. I was shocked Steve Martin could write so well. I identified with the book as a whole and it was a book that made you sad and yearn in equal measure-much like life except life sucks.

But the notion of L.A. story being merely 'enjoyably sweet' actually made me shudder.The movie is one of my all time favourites which led me to call Steve Martin an absolute god, an adjective I tend to be sparing with. I don't think Shopgirl is a great movie but I definitely don't believe its any worse than silly hollywood crap like Forrest Gump which I am pretty sure had Hehir peeing in his pants for sheer joy. In any case, his review like my rejoinder is simply an exercise in airing feelings/opinions/prejudices. It is part of what makes Salon fun but there is such a thing as throwing money away