Cert 15
86 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language and sex references
I think Greta Gerwig would be happy to know that a 50-year-old Brit doesn't get her comedy.
The problem is that I am not sure that anyone other than slightly unhinged, too-smart-for-their-own good, Bohemian, middle-class women in their 20s would get it.
A very well-read former colleague of mine watched Frances Ha with his wife the other day.
His verdict was that it couldn't count as a comedy because it didn't elicit any laughs.
A twitter pal's reaction was similar. Just three people were in the cinema when he saw it and it was a guffaw-free zone.
In my experience on Wednesday night at Cineworld Nottingham, the giggles were confined to a couple of...women in their 20s.
Far be it from me to suggest that they would have ticked all of the boxes above but I can say they didn't have working class accents.
Films such as Frances Ha are quite insulting to people who are genuinely poor.
On the face of it Frances (Gerwig) is on the breadline, failing to hold down anything but the most menial of jobs.
And yet somehow, she manages to finance a life in New York and even whizzes off to Paris for a weekend.
I think she needs a quick trip to a soup kitchen to see what life is really like when every cent counts.
Anyway Frances dreams of life in a dance company but, at the age of 27, still hasn't realised she is not going to make it.
Meanwhile, her best friend (Mickey Sumner) deals her a huge blow by saying she is moving out of their shared apartment.
This prompts a downward spiral in which various people flit in and out of Frances' life as she struggles to make ends meet but, amazingly, she still keeps her good humour.
To me, Frances Ha was self-indulgent. It was written by Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach who also directed the movie.
And he adds a bit of art for art sake in filming it, for no obvious reason, in black and white.
I know there are those who find the film charming and quirky. It left me cold.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 3/10