In Search of a Midnight Kiss

SYNOPSIS

As much a love letter to Los Angeles as Woody Allen's Manhattan was to New York, this is a disarming update of the classic screwball comedy. Unable to find a date for New Year's Eve, wannabe screenwriter Scoot McNairy advertises online and finds himself walking the streets of his new city with Sara Simmonds, a cursing, chain-smoking blonde who shares many of his hang-ups. However, the idyllic afternoon descends into nocturnal peril as her enraged ex-boyfriend threatens to sabotage their date. McNairy is splendidly awkward as the careworn antihero, while Simmonds excels as the tough cookie whose sharp tongue belies a forlorn fragility. But it's writer/director Alex Holdridge's quick-witted and occasionally profane dialogue and Robert Murphy's crisp monochrome photography that make this simply irresistible.