‘Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town’ Gives the Finger to Romance

Sandra Miska

One woman’s plight to win back her supposed true love is chronicled in the darkish dramedy “Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town.” Angsty actress Mackenzie Davis plays the titular character, who is first introduced waking up in the bed of a stranger (Lakeith Stanfield),with no idea as to how she got there, thus setting the tone for the rest of this crazy ride. After departing from the home of said stranger, George, who is surprisingly sweet and interesting, she does her morning social media check and discovers something that shakes her to her core. Her ex-boyfriend, Roger (Alex Russell), is engaged to his current girlfriend, Whitney (Sarah Goldberg). Not only that, their engagement party is that night. To add salt to Izzy’s wound, Whitney happens to be her former BFF. Despite this betrayal, she is convinced that she and Roger belong together., so convinced that she decides to crash the party and confess. This means she’ll have to travel from West Los Angeles all the way to the Los Feliz. Complicating things is the fact that she has no car and no funds, leaving her to beg and do whatever it takes to get to her destination. What follows is a journey in which is revealed the making of a true hot mess.

Dressed in the stained white tux she was fired in the night before, Izzy proceeds to hit up a series of people, beginning with Casey (Meghan Lennox), the friend on whose couch she has been staying. Pregnant and fed-up with her freeloading friend, Casey refuses to have anything to do with what she perceives as an insane plan. The viewer sees here that beggars can indeed be choosers, as Izzy brushes off her friend’s suggestion that she take a bus. The idea of Uber or Lyft isn’t even brought up. Indeed, “Izzy…” almost feels as if it takes place 20-25 years ago, a feeling that is amplified by the film’s nineties riot grrrl-inspired soundtrack. Izzy, it is revealed, was once a rising star in the indie rock world, but that all fell apart following a split with her partner, Violet (Carrie Coon), her own sister, who is now an upper-class, adulterous wife (Rob Huebel plays her passive aggressive husband). In one of the more impactful scenes, the sisters engage in a tense duet of a song that sounds straight out of Lilith Fair.

Divided into chapters that work as separate vignettes, the film’s strength is its performances, not only from Davis and Coon, but also from Haley Joel Osment, Alia Shawkat and Annie Potts as a trio of oddballs Izzy encounters during her trying journey. Shawkat especially stands out as the manic Agatha, a stranger who offers our heroine a ride only to take a dark detrour.

All of this culminates into an emotional meeting not only with Roger, but also with Whitney. The latter encounter is particularly affecting, as both women have complicated feelings about each other and the demise of their friendship.

“Izzy…” can probably best be described an anti-romance. It has one of those endings that takes the rug out from under the viewer, and one’s feelings about it depends on one’s outlook on life.

“Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town” opens June 22 nationwide.