Film

Mistress America

Name: Mistress America
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2015
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke, Matthew Shear, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Heather Lind

Comedy
Light-hearted

A zippy comedy about a lonely college freshman who falls under the spell of her glamorous, chaotic future stepsister. It's a whirlwind of schemes, non-sequiturs, and genuine emotional connection wrapped in rapid-fire dialogue and New York City energy. For anyone who loves smart comedies that move fast and care about their characters.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy fast, talky comedies where the jokes come from characters who overthink everything and whose ambitions outrun their talent, the kind of film that feels like a Noah Baumbach or Woody Allen cousin.

Skip it if you want plot to move in a straight line, since this one wanders through improvised-feeling scenes and half-formed schemes that deliberately refuse to settle into a tidy story.

What it asks of you: Eighty-four minutes of rapid dialogue, with little breathing room and a restless energy that rewards close attention to who is bluffing whom.

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

If you liked this

Frances Ha2013

Same director (Noah Baumbach), same leading actress (Greta Gerwig), same crackling dialogue about ambition and friendship in New York. If you loved one, this is essential.

But It's in black and white, moves at its own pace, and the protagonist is sometimes frustratingly stuck. Not a traditional story.

Broad City2014

Two comedians playing chaotic best friends in New York, making absurd schemes work through sheer enthusiasm and honesty. Same energy, longer to live in.

But Cruder and more raucous than Mistress America. The humor lands differently if that isn't your speed.

Tiny Furniture2010

Lena Dunham's debut about a post-college woman adrift in New York, navigating weird friendships and stranger relationships. Similar tone: funny but genuinely melancholy underneath.

But Slower pacing and more deliberately awkward. The comedy is quieter and requires patience.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Mistress America

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Contempt1963

Both are comedies about modern relationships that trust dialogue over incident, and both understand that the way people speak reveals everything about who they are and who they're trying to be.

Godard's film about filmmaking, ego, and the deterioration of relationships spoken in real time and gorgeous color. Looks completely different but shares Baumbach's obsession with how people actually talk to each other.

But Slow, European, opaque. You need patience and goodwill toward ambiguity. Zero plot momentum.

Greenberg2010

Noah Baumbach directing Ben Stiller as someone unraveling in Los Angeles. Sharp, uncomfortable dialogue and a portrait of emotional dysfunction dressed as comedy.

But Darker and meaner. Stiller's character is harder to like than anyone in Mistress America.

The Good Place2016

Rapid-fire jokes, serialized storytelling, and characters who genuinely care about each other. Intellectual comedy that doesn't sacrifice heart or humor.

But Runs for four seasons and gets increasingly complicated. Commit or don't start.

Trainwreck2015

Amy Schumer in a Judd Apatow film about a cynical woman pushed by a genuinely good person to be better. Smart comedy about relationships and growing up.

But Longer and broader than Mistress America. Leans into traditional rom-com structure if you find that tedious.

Drinking Buddies2013

Joe Swanberg's loose, improvised comedy about two people in a brewery figuring out friendship and attraction. Naturalistic dialogue and real character work.

But Deliberately slow and unstructured. If you want plot momentum, this isn't it.

Duck Soup1933

Marx Brothers chaos at maximum velocity—non-sequiturs, invented logic, jokes landing so fast you miss half of them. The DNA of Mistress America's rhythm is here.

But From 1933, in black and white, and sometimes impenetrable. The reference points and style are radically different.

Sorry to Bother You2018

Both films use the energy and speed of comedy to explore class anxiety and the masks we wear. Mistress America is intimate; this is systemic. Same engine, wildly different scale.

Boots Riley's debut: surreal, energetic, formally inventive, about code-switching and survival in a broken system. Tonal shifts, dazzling ideas, and genuine emotion coexist.

But Sci-fi turns bizarre and dark in the third act. It's not what you signed up for when it started, and that unsettles people.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019

Like Mistress America, it's about the sudden, transformative arrival of another woman who makes the world feel alive and possible. One's a scrappy NYC comedy, one's a hushed period piece, but both understand that female friendship can be as structurally important as any love story.

Céline Sciamma's film about two women (one painting, one being painted) finding intimacy and desire. Quietly made, visually ravishing, and deeply alive to the texture of female connection.

But French, slow, almost no plot. If you need conventional narrative momentum, you'll struggle. Also entirely serious—no comedy.