Two New Yorkers—wound-too-tight Lauren (cowriter Lauren Miller) and flirty extrovert Katie (Ari Graynor)—share an apartment out of necessity. Mutual animosity somehow leads to Lauren’s curiosity about her new roommate’s gig as a part-time phone-sex operator; quicker than you can say 1-900-BITE-ME, they’ve successfully started their own hot-and-heavy chat line. It’s bad enough that the movie’s pro-female-friendship leanings are undermined by the notion that pretty faces saying potty-mouthed things is the most subversive thing ever (it isn’t), or that Justin Long’s gay-best-bud act would embarrass Paul Lynde. What really hurts is seeing Jamie Travis’s name attached; for those of
us who love his extraordinary “Patterns” trilogy, watching the talented Toronto filmmaker add his characterically kitschy touch to such a witless, faux-edgy movie can only be described as a Travis-ty.
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