Girl Most Likely

A failed New York playwright (Kristen Wiig) loses her boyfriend and her job—then, after a fake suicide attempt, she's remanded to the custody of the mother she can't stand (Annette Bening). Writer Michelle Morgan and directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini serve up an urban bachelorette comedy reminiscent of Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's Frances Ha earlier this year—only this one's goofier, funnier and less even-keeled. Wiig's patented weary-and-put-upon shtick fits easily in the semiscrewball surroundings, and the directors smoothly finesse the script's frequent (and deliberate) changes of tone. The result is a real charmer, full of surprises. Darren Criss makes an appealing match for Wiig, and there's a star-making turn by Christopher Fitzgerald as Wiig's socially challenged brother.