Kooky characters amp up rollicking humor in ‘Walk of Shame’

MARSDEN AND BANKS. She didn’t even know his name.

There are many things that go wrong in Steven Brill’s “Walk of Shame,” not the least of which is an improbable story that inflicts all sorts of humiliating situations on its luckless protagonist, Meghan Miles (Elizabeth Banks), who’s supposed to be too smart to fall victim to any of them. After all, she is a promising news anchor with a couple of Emmy nominations tucked neatly under her belt!

But, Meghan’s ascent to the bigtime hits a snag when her Amerasian competitor gets the break she thought she’d get—because network executives doubt if she has what it takes to generate excitement among viewers. Her troubles don’t end there, however: She has just broken up with her two-timing fiancé, Kyle.

To forget her woes, the usually prissy news reader agrees to get into a skimpy, figure-hugging yellow dress and paint the town red with her gal pals, bossy Rosie (Gillian Jacobs) and ditzy Denise (Sarah Wright)—then ends up inebriated in the apartment (and arms) of Gordon (James Marsden), a hunky bartender cum romantic novelist (whose name she didn’t get).

Bad luck

The next morning, Meghan’s bad luck careens out of control: She gets herself locked out of Gordon’s apartment, where she left her phone. Everything she has is in her car, which has been towed. She doesn’t know where she is—and, with nothing but a minidress on, everybody thinks she’s a drug-dealing, bicycle-snatching hooker!

She needs to convince the police that she isn’t who they think she is, but the only people who offer “help” want something in return—except for three kooky gangsters (Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Alphonso McAuley and Da’Vone McDonald) who recognize her from her little-seen news show!

Back at Gordon’s apartment, Meghan’s cell phone receives a text message telling her to report to the studio for an interview with the TV executives, who weren’t too happy with her “unstable” competitor. But, Meghan is too busy extricating herself out of the sticky mess she’s gotten herself into. Will she make it to her dream date with destiny?

It’s hard to suspend disbelief that a streetwise journalist can’t convince anybody to help her—and in progressive Los Angeles, at that! Despite its loopy excesses, however, the film remains viewable because of its astute casting choices. It benefits from its lead actors’ strong and cheeky presence.

Screen consort

Meghan is portrayed by the winsome Elizabeth Banks, who makes her embattled character likable despite the bad decisions she makes. It doesn’t hurt that her screen consort (James Marsden) is just as adorable and easy on the eye.

Giving them ample support are Jacobs, Wright, Gilliard, McAuley and McDonald, who amplify the rollicking humor needed to convince viewers to take the movie’s silliness in stride. Their winking characterizations will help you get past the film’s implausibilities.

This week, too, Marsden makes an unbilled cameo appearance as Cyclops aka Scott Summers in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and will next be seen in David O. Russell’s drama, “Nailed” (about a waitress with a nail lodged in her head), Shira Piven’s comedy, “Welcome to Me” (about a woman with a Borderline Personality Disorder who wins big in a lottery), and the cautionary thriller, “The Loft.”

For her part, Banks will reprise her role as Effie Trinket in “The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay, Parts 1 and 2,” then rejoins Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson in the musical-comedy franchise, “Pitch Perfect 2,” and appears in the much speculated Brian Wilson biopic, “Love & Mercy.”