Following a festival run that included screenings at such prestigious venues as the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival's closing night, Damsels in Distress, the long-awaited follow-up to writer-director Whit Stillman's biting dramedy The Last Days of Disco is finally making its way to select theaters this spring. To proclaim the film's fast-approaching release, Sony Pictures Classics via Yahoo unveils this quirky trailer, which offers a taste of the dark comedy's deadpan sensibilities, while giving plenty of screentime to its charming cast of rising starlets, including Crazy, Stupid, Love's Analeigh Tipton, Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza, and mumblecore royalty Greta Gerwig.
Set in a modern university seemingly overrun by boorish young men, Damsels in Distress centers on four nostalgic gal pals who seek to start a drama-free revolution of civility and constructed romance. Led by the charismatic Violet Wister (Gerwig), the group that includes principled Rose (90210's Megalyn Echikunwoke), sultry Heather (Carrie MacLemore) and the newly transferred student, Lily (Tipton), looks to lessen the impact of the battle of the sexes through good hygiene, revised expectations, and tap dance. Yet romantic entanglements still manage to mess with their heads, causing depression—or "tailspins"—infighting, and a major threat to their friendship and sanity.
For her part, Gerwig (Arthur, Greenberg) has proven again and again to be a sly and subtle comedienne, and will appear in Woody Allen's summer-slated release Nero Fiddled. So it seems a smart move to not only boast her lead role here, but also to cite a review that calls Damsels in Distress, "Part Woody Allen, all deadpan hilarity." With her involvement alone I was sold on this kooky comedy, so when it comes to the rest of this eye-catching cast—including The O.C.'s Adam Brody—well, that's just gravy.
Damsels in Distress opens in New York and Los Angeles on April 6th.
