Review of Listen Up Philip

LISTEN UP PHILIP (2014) *** Jason Schwartzman, Elisabeth Moss, Jonathan Pryce, Krysten Ritter, Josephine de La Baume (Narrator : Eric Bogosian) Schwartzman had a field day in his best performance since RUSHMORE as an angry, egotistical, mean-spirited and obnoxious NYC writer who finds life pretty much unbearable in spite of his recent success in the publication of his second novel. Along the way he is befriended by a fellow, mellower misanthropic author of well-reknown (Pryce equally giving snide goods) who offers his mentorship - and country home - for his young charge to use in his writings and in the process destroying his most recent relationship with an ambitious photographer (Moss marveling in a complex and winning performance) amidst his selfishness. Filmmaker Alex Ross Perry's nimble direction and clean screenplay has its share of the impossible made possible : having a jerk protagonist actually be sympathetic while not compromising his unique arch demeanor.