Most romantic comedies bury the loneliness and disappointment that is inevitably a part of any romance in one tidy sequence, usually involving the hero or heroine walking despondently in the rain. Shopgirl – adapted from Steve Martin’s novella about a love triangle involving a drifting Los Angeles sales clerk (Claire Danes, sad and sweet), a
fun but immature fellow 20-something (Jason Schwartzman, stupid and sweet) and a lavishly
attentive but emotionally distant older man (Martin, trying to distance himself from his role) – almost exclusively explores this sort of melancholy. It’s like a romantic comedy on Prozac.
