Film

Damsels in Distress

Name: Damsels in Distress
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Released: 2012
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Lio Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Carrie MacLemore, Ryan Metcalf

Comedy

Greta Gerwig leads a trio of women determined to cure depression through dance routines and aggressive cheerfulness at a scruffy American college. It's a musical comedy with genuine heart but also genuine weirdness—sincere about its weird ideas in a way that's either refreshing or exhausting depending on your patience for Whit Stillman's particular brand of arch romanticism.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love talky, mannered comedies where characters speak in elaborate, earnest sentences and the jokes come from pastel sincerity and sudden bursts of choreographed joy.

Skip it if you need plot momentum or a story that goes somewhere, since this one drifts on attitude, wordplay and a deliberately gentle, almost weightless absurdity.

What it asks of you: Ninety-nine minutes of dense, rapid dialogue that rewards close listening; you can't half-watch it, and its humour lands in small, quick pauses rather than big set pieces.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Metropolitan1990

Whit Stillman's debut about privileged New York kids navigating class, romance and ideology with wit and genuine tenderness. If you loved Damsels' dialogue and its belief that ideas matter, this is where that sensibility was born.

But It's entirely set in drawing rooms and at parties among the wealthy, which can feel suffocatingly narrow if you want plot momentum or stakes that feel tangible.

Tiny Furniture2010

Lena Dunham's debut features Greta Gerwig in a leading role, capturing post-college drift with dark comedy and real vulnerability. The deadpan humour and commitment to awkwardness will feel familiar if Damsels spoke to you.

But It's deliberately small and unglamorous, with a protagonist who's often unlikeable. Some find that refreshing; others just find it tedious.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg1964

A ravishing musical about young love, obligation and choice, shot in impossible colours. It shares Damsels' belief that life's big emotions deserve songs, but executes it with heartbreaking grace rather than irony.

But The plot hinges on romance and separation in ways that feel old-fashioned. If you want your musicals contemporary or funny, this might feel slow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Damsels in Distress

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Both films believe that musical performance and physical exuberance are tools for genuine transformation, not ironically deployed but earnestly meant.

The greatest movie musical ever made, where happiness is a physical act and dancing is how you solve problems and express hope. It's the spiritual ancestor of Damsels' belief that joy and movement are revolutionary.

But It's a 1952 Hollywood production with all that entails—gender politics that feel dated, a simplicity of emotional life that modern viewers often find shallow.

Joshy2016

A comedy about friendship and adulthood starring Jeff Bridges and the Duplass brothers. It has that same tone of sincere silliness—people trying to fix each other through willpower and good intentions, with uneven results.

But The humour is often cringe-based and the film never quite finds its footing tonally, wandering between comedy, tragedy and party-movie chaos.

Beginners2011

Mike Mills' film about a man processing his father's late-life coming-out and his own romantic confusion. It shares Damsels' willingness to be sincere about sadness and to trust the audience with emotional complexity.

But It's quieter and sadder than you might expect from its premise, and the formal playfulness can feel precious rather than illuminating.

Girls2012

Lena Dunham's HBO series about friendship and self-discovery in New York, with Greta Gerwig in a recurring role. If Damsels' focus on women's friendships and ambition interested you, this explores similar terrain across 10 episodes.

But The show's willingness to make its characters unsympathetic alienates many viewers. It can feel self-indulgent and the comedy doesn't always land.

Corpse Bride2005

Tim Burton and Mike Johnson's stop-motion musical about devotion and belonging. It shares Damsels' theatricality and its belief that the deeply weird can also be deeply felt.

But The stop-motion aesthetic won't appeal to everyone, and the plot follows fairy-tale logic that can feel predictable.

Booksmart2019

Both centre female friendships as the primary relationship and trust that watching women care for each other is inherently dramatic, but Booksmart does it at a sprint where Damsels moves at a waltz.

Olivia Wilde's debut about two brilliant, anxious girls trying to cram four years of fun into one night. It has Damsels' commitment to female friendship as the emotional centre, but in a wildly contemporary and kinetic style.

But It's aggressively of-the-moment in its references and aesthetic. If you found Damsels' stylization off-putting, this accelerates that feeling tenfold.

After the Wedding2006

Where Damsels is optimistic that good intentions and hard work can cure despair, After the Wedding asks the harder question: what are we actually saving people from, and at what cost?

Susanne Bier's Danish film about obligation, sacrifice and the lies we tell ourselves in service of good intentions. Mads Mikkelsen plays a man whose charity work collides with personal loyalty, asking whether helping others can ever be pure.

But It's a slow-burn drama in a minor key, European and unsentimental. If you want catharsis or clear moral answers, it denies you both.