Mordaciously hilarious study of smallish town, cornhusker housewife turned scarlet-lettered jailbird. Blame it on ennui. I wish I had a teacher like Frances Ferguson during my high school years, instead I had wizened nuns with bad spanking habits and a bald, pasty man with disturbingly hirsute hands. If she were the teach, I'd have really boned up on my homework assignments. Yeah, so I gained a sort of retroactive, vicarious thrill watching this. The wacky, deadpan narration (except for the odd time when he cracks himself up) by Offerman is a real treat, as is the fine acting by Kaley Wheless. The latter is a fetching, refreshing cross between Taylor Schilling and a less uptight Charlize Theron. Cool cameo by the great Martin Starr helps to perk up the last quarter of the film. This is the part of the film that sort of loses its luster and fizzles out a bit. It gets a little too North Platte-tudinous. You could do a helluva lot worse with your indie film viewing choices.
Review of Frances Ferguson
