''Support the Girls'' is a 2018 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by

Andrew Bujalski Andrew Bujalski (born April 29, 1977) is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the "godfather of mumblecore." Life and career Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of artist-turned-businesswoman Sheil ...

. It stars

Regina Hall Regina Lee Hall (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as Brenda Meeks in the comedy horror ''Scary Movie'' film series (2000–2006). She has since appeared in the television series '' Ally McBeal ...

Haley Lu Richardson Haley Lu Richardson (born March 7, 1995) is an American actress. Following early television roles on the Disney Channel sitcom ''Shake It Up'' (2013) and the ABC Family supernatural drama '' Ravenswood'' (2013–2014), she acted in the coming-of- ...

James LeGros James Le Gros () (born April 27, 1962) is an American actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in '' Living in Oblivion''. Career James Le Gros appeared as Rick in Gus Van Sant's 1989 ...

, Shayna McHayle,

Dylan Gelula Dylan Nicole Gelula (born May 7, 1994) is an American actress who is best known for her role of Xanthippe on '' Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', as well as her work in independent film. In 2016, Gelula made her film debut as the lead actress with ...

AJ Michalka Amanda Joy Michalka ( ; born April 10, 1991) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, record producer and voice actress who is best known as one half of the musical duo Aly & AJ (briefly 78violet), alongside her older sister Aly Michalka. She h ...

Brooklyn Decker Brooklyn Danielle Decker (born April 12, 1987) is an American model and actress, perhaps best known for her appearances in the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue, including the cover of the 2010 issue. In addition to working for Victoria's ...

, Jana Kramer, John Elvis,

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. She is best kno ...

, and Victor Isaac Perez. The film had its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

on March 9, 2018, and was theatrically released on August 24, 2018, by

Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...

. It received positive reviews from critics, with Hall's performance earning particular praise. Hall earned nominations at the

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic gla ...

and

Gotham Independent Film Awards The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

and won the

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in film-making. Winners * † = Winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress * ‡ = Nomina ...

, the first African-American to win the award.

Plot

Lisa is the general manager of the sports bar and

breastaurant A breastaurant is a restaurant that requires female waiting staff to be skimpily-dressed. The term dates from the early 1990s, after restaurant chain Hooters opened in the United States. The format has since been adopted by other restaurants, in ...

Double Whammies. She takes her job seriously, protecting her employees from inappropriate or rude interactions with customers. Despite her commitment to the restaurant, her incompetent boss, Ben Cubby, has repeatedly threatened to fire her. His ire is provoked when Lisa has her employees host an off-the-books car wash to raise money for an employee, Shaina, who has hit her abusive boyfriend with her car and is staying at Lisa's house. Despite Lisa's optimism, the day proves challenging: she has potential new employees to try out; an attempted robbery results in a man becoming stuck in a ventilation duct; one of her most trusted employees, Maci, turns out to be secretly dating a much older patron; another, Danyelle, is a single mother struggling with child care for her son; another gets a large tattoo of

Steph Curry Steph is often a short form of the feminine given name Stephanie and its other variants, or the masculine given name Stephen. Women * Steph Catley (born 1994), Australian footballer * Steph Cook (born 1972), Scottish retired pentathlete and 2000 ...

on her midsection despite tattoos being forbidden on employees; the bar is trying to get its cable fixed in time for a big fight that night; business is threatened by ManCave, another breastaurant developing in the area; and Lisa is separating from her depressed husband, Cameron. After Cubby scares Lisa during an episode of road rage, she calls Cameron for a ride. Cubby fires Lisa and she forces herself to leave. When she returns home she learns from Shaina that Cameron has moved out. Shaina reveals that she is back together with her boyfriend and will use the fundraising money to pay his hospital bills. Furious, Lisa forces her to return the money. That night during the big fight, Maci and Danyelle, frustrated by the loss of Lisa, sabotage the cable in protest, leading to an awkward and tense scene with the customers and an off duty police officer. Danyelle and Maci are fired soon after. The next day, Lisa, Maci, and Danyelle interview with ManCave. The interviewer tells Lisa that ManCave waitresses are unintelligent and easily replaced. Lisa, Maci and Danyelle sit on the rooftop drinking liquor stolen from Double Whammies and contemplate their future employment before letting out cathartic screams.

Cast

Production

In May 2017, it was announced

Junglepussy Shayna McHayle (born October 31, 1991), known professionally by her stage name Junglepussy, is an American rapper and actress from New York City. Her first mixtape ''Satisfaction Guaranteed'' was released in 2014. She has received recognition fro ...

, Jana Kramer, and

had joined the cast of the film, with

directing from a screenplay he wrote. Sam Slater and Houston King served as producers on the film, under their Burn Later Productions and Houston King Productions banners, respectively.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began in May 2017 in Texas.

Release

The film had its world premiere at

on March 9, 2018. Shortly after,

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. The film was theatrically released on August 24, 2018.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''Support the Girls'' handles serious themes—and a talented ensemble cast—with wit and humor, all while proving Regina Hall's talents have been woefully underutilized." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". David Fear wrote in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', "You could not ask for a better image of our country right now. You could not ask for a better American film to showcase it." Former President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

named the film one of his favorites of 2018.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Support the Girls 2018 films 2018 comedy films 2010s English-language films 2010s feminist films American feminist comedy films Films set in the 21st century Films shot in Austin, Texas Films set in Texas Films set in restaurants Films about the working class 2010s American films 2010s female buddy films 2018 independent films American independent films