Damsels in Distress

2011
PG-13
1h 39m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

10K

YOUR RATING

Megalyn Echikunwoke, Greta Gerwig, and Lio Tipton in Damsels in Distress (2011)

A trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind.

Play trailer2:22

18 Videos

41 Photos

Comedy Drama Romance

A trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind... Read allA trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind.A trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

10K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations

Trivia
Writer/Director Whit Stillman's first film in 13 years after The Last Days of Disco (1998).

Goofs
A rainbow is seen in the sky with light falling onto the trees from the right, but when looking at a rainbow the sun is always behind you.

Quotes
Violet: Do you know what's the major problem in contemporary social life? The tendency to always seek someone cooler than yourself.

Crazy credits
Apologies to Johann Strauss Jr. - the Waltz James P. Johnson - the Charleston Ernest 'Chubby Checker' Evans - the Twist

Alternate versions
The BBFC in the UK originally classified the film with a 15 rating, but later classified a modified version of the film with a 12 rating, which had some of the stronger sexual references removed.

Connections
Featured in Maltin on Movies: Damsels in Distress (2012)

Soundtracks
2 Hott 4 Da Universe
Written by Jon Flores, Greedbagz Deluxxx and Guy Weltchek

User reviews70

Review

Featured review

6/10

college for mentally challenged

Damsels in Distress might be described as a romantic comedy. It's greatest value lays, however, in blending parody with social commentary. Roughly speaking, the college campus in the movie is divided into two camps: rich-but-uneducated and poor-but-unkempt. Between them are the main protagonists with Good Samaritan attitude. And none of the above are fully likable.

I guess that the parody is rather straightforward. The social commentary, on the other hand, might be too intellectual for the average viewer. This was obviously a conscious effort but apparently led to alienating mainstream audience. The reason I'm pointing this out is because in it's essence Damsels in Distress is in no way inferior to, for example, Judd Apatow's Knocked Up or The 40 Years Old Virgin.

This seems to be Whim Stillman's most focused effort to date: Gone are endless Woody Allen-esque dialogues better suitable for Off-Broadway than the big screen. The movie references some of Stillman's previous work, the most obvious being Gretta Gerwig as a surrogate Chloë Sevigny. But this is where i quit deep-diving and continued enjoying the movie.