Women is Losers is more docudrama than drama–cheeky breaks in the fourth wall offer modern insights into the struggles of the 1960s and 70s for women and women of color in America. At no point does it feel like we are actually following a story arc. Rather, we’re romping through the tropes for single mothers trying to get by in a world not built for them. The opening scene lays it on pretty thick that the film is going to try to be intersectional and–weirdly–tries to excuse it’s own imperfections (the occasional “Applebees” in a distant wide shot or the fact that streets are populated with cars out of the period). The only way that our hero Celina is able to get ahead in life is through the kindness of strangers, usually folks who want to have sex with her, including the one, the only, Simu Liu (who cannot help but waver between being a bit of a dick and being a decent human being, in Chris Evans from Knives Out fashion). The voice overs, asides, and scenes of heightened drama run the risk of being called schmaltzy and there are times when the inspirational aphorisms are so trite as to be completely unintelligible. For instance, toward the end of the movie, Celina is staying with Paris from the Gilmore Girls when she asks what her son will even remember from this time and Paris responds, “They all do, somehow, in the end,” which not only is a bad answer, but doesn’t really even respond to the question she asked. Do you want vanilla or chocolate? Maybe. An answer, but not technically an answer. I had some hopes for this movie based on the limited description I had read ahead of time, but I don’t really know how this movie moves the goalpost from better executed films from the same era like Hidden Figures or White Boy Rick (I kid, I kid). But there are some issues of originality here that are hard for me to swallow.
