
*Online Premiere* A well intentioned yuppie goes to great lengths to prove she's a good person in this witty and incisive L.A. comedy. After premiering at Sundance 2013, the short by Michelle Morgan was never released online. NoBudge is happy to finally premiere it today corresponding with the release of Morgan’s feature debut, It Happened in L.A.
When her regular check-out lady at the grocery store announces she’s quitting her job, Michelle suggests they keep in touch. It’s an awkward gesture setting in motion a series of awkward meet-ups. Although they’ve established a cordial customer-service relationship at the market, they don’t have much in common in the real world. The guilt-ridden Michelle aims to prove she can be friends with someone with lesser personal style and who works service jobs.
The stylish but biting portrait is carried by the performances and the uncomfortable chemistry between the two. Morgan plays Michelle and she's hilarious and cringeworthy with her superficial pronouncements about preferred shoe sizes and handbags. Stephanie Allynne plays CJ and is brilliant as the kind, genuine woman not as attuned to appearances or prone to instant judgements. As Michelle keeps digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole of personal issues, CJ gracefully plays along, and so goes the push-pull of the film itself. (16 minutes).