A slacker drug dealer teams up with a ghost to uncover an inheritance fraud in 2021's Lady of the Manor. It's basically Scooby-Doo meets The Odd Couple and nothing feels ambitious about the film's technical qualities. But Melanie Lynskey gives a charming and fascinating performance as the drug dealer.
I saw the film's thumbnail when scrolling through 2021 films on Amazon Prime and thought, "Who would watch this? . . . I guess I will." So I did.
There are so many movies from 2021 I'd never heard of. But how would I? I don't watch commercials anymore. Few of these are covered by the review outlets I watch or read. For the most part, I guess a lot of these films just hope people will be intrigued by the thumbnails.
Lady of the Manor was directed and co-written by Justin Long. People over 30 might remember him as the Mac in the "I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" commercials, back in the days when someone could get famous appearing in commercials. Since then, he's had bit roles in various films but nothing really turned him into a superstar.
Lynskey plays Hannah, a woman who's busted on a pot delivery--not for the drugs but because she accidentally runs into a To Catch a Predator style sting and is mistaken for a paedophile. One thing leads to another and she ends up giving tours at an historic manor in Savannah in the guise of its former owner, Lady Wadsworth. When the ghost of the real Lady Wadsworth (Judy Greer) appears, hijinks ensue.
A lot of the comedy works entirely because of how straight Lynskey plays it. Whether she's unabashedly lying about farting or spouting nonsense in place of historical facts to tourists, she's always somewhere between kindly and baked. Lady Wadsworth at first tries to scare her away but then resigns herself just to trying to instruct Hannah on how to be a lady, a quixotic quest if ever there was one. Lynskey keeps the movie going through its pretty uninteresting plot.
Lady of the Manor is available on Amazon Prime.
Twitter Sonnet #1513
The longest road was space between the eyes.
A crooked arm took elvish breakfast food.
The drinking ant was big with liquid pies.
We all contracted hard a boozy mood.
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Her motives dimmed behind a pastry case.
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The ghostly question's just a couple odd.
The aimless Mars deposits men in sod.
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