All About Nina

This debut marks a bright future for Vives and is an excellent entry in the romantic comedy format that doesn’t lose sight of who its heroine is the moment she falls for someone.

While the character’s resulting journey of self-discovery may follow familiar lines, it is bracing nevertheless.

Don’t think this is merely some edgy, caustic rom-com: This is a seriously funny examination of a life wracked with pain, and the healing steps it takes to move on with your life.

All About Nina works best as a showcase for Winstead, even if she’s performing material we’ve already heard before.

Winstead is wildly funny (and spot-on) doing the impressions in Nina’s act (especially of Björk ordering a smoothie) but also proves uninhibited and candid when Nina doesn’t have jokes to hide behind.

It’s hard not to root for Nina, even if this prickly, intriguingly difficult character becomes considerably less interesting as the story progresses and the dialogue veers toward the therapeutic

The laughs are few and slow in coming, and you’re not five minutes into the film before you know why. Despite a lively performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Nina is a big bore with a small talent and a one-track mind.

I am a huge fan of Mary Elizabeth Winstead so I was looking forward to watching this when it popped up on Netflix. I am however not a fan at all of stand up "comedy" so when the film started with several minutes of an utterly disgusting stand up routine it was time to switch it off. Ms. Winstead may have been good in it, I'll never know.