''That's What She Said'' is a 2012 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 ol ...

directed by

Carrie Preston Carrie Preston (born June 21, 1967) is an American actress known for her work on the television series ''True Blood'', ''Person of Interest (TV series), Person of Interest'', ''Crowded (TV series), Crowded'', ''The Good Wife'', ''The Good Fight ...

, written by Kellie Overbey, and starring Marcia DeBonis, Anne Heche,

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; ar, عليا مارتين شوكت; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in '' The Old Man'', '' State of Grace'', Maeby Fünke in the Fox/Netflix television sitcom '' Arrested Devel ...

, and

Miriam Shor Miriam Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her performance in the rock musical '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and in the 2001 film adaptation of the same name. She later starred in a number of short-lived televisio ...

Plot

As Bebe prepares for a big date, her best friend Dee Dee offers nothing but cynical barbs. Meanwhile, sex-crazed Clementine wanders into their lives, sparking a wild adventure through the streets of New York City.

Cast

*Marcia DeBonis as Bebe * Anne Heche as Dee Dee *

as Clementine *

as Rhoda *Mandy Siegfried as Mary *

Michael Emerson Michael Emerson (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor who is best known for his roles as serial killer William Hinks on ''The Practice'', Benjamin Linus on ''Lost'', Zep Hindle in the first '' Saw'' film, Cayden James on ''Arrow'', and ...

as uncredited background character

Release

The film premiered at the

2012 Sundance Film Festival The 2012 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 until January 29, 2012 in Park City, Utah. 64 short films were selected for the festival from 7,675 submissions, including 27 international shorts from 3,592 submissions. Non-competition ...

on January 20, 2012, and proceeded to get a limited release on October 19, 2012. After a new release was coming out on November 12 2024

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

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 Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 8% based on 12 critics, with an average rating of 3/10. 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 ...

, ''That's What She Said'' holds a rank of 22 out of a 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Gary Goldstein of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote: "It's all directed - and played - at fever pitch with an egregious disregard for real-world comportment". Writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'',

Lisa Schwarzbaum Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a film critic in the 1990s and remained there until February 2013. Career She has been featured on CNN, co-hosted '' Siskel & Ebert at the Mov ...

commented: "If you see just one repellent femme-owned-and-operated comedy about unpleasant women and a stubborn case of vaginal yeast infection, you might as well make it ''That's What She Said'', since I hope there'll never be another like it". Matt Singer of '' Time Out'' admired the acting by the three lead actresses but mentioned that "it's frustrating, however, when all they get to do is complain about guys who are totally absent from the film". ''That's What She Said'' was also criticized by

Stephanie Zacharek Stephanie Zacharek is an American film critic at ''Time'', based in New York City. From 2013 to 2015, she was the principal film critic for ''The Village Voice''. She was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism. Early life Stephanie Zachare ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

who said: "The road to hell is paved not just with good intentions, but with movies that attempt to capture the way women really talk". Rachel Saltz of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' pointed out that the film is an "unpleasant comedy about friendship", which "aims to be a female twist on the bromance". She then added: " espite itscrude and knockabout umor it nonetheless has - like many a bromance - a sloppy, sentimental heart". Women's lifestyle magazine ''

Bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

'' admitted that " he directornavigates the everyday crises of modern womanhood with a style of humor that is usually only applied to men", while Nick McCarthy of '' Slant Magazine'' called the film "an embarrassing girls-behaving-badly indie romp".

References

External links

* * 2010s buddy comedy films American buddy comedy films 2010s English-language films 2010s female buddy films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City American independent films Films directed by Carrie Preston 2012 independent films 2012 comedy films 2010s American films {{2010s-comedy-film-stub