Directed by Lina Roessler
Written by Anthony Grieco
Starring Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Ellen Wong, and Cary Elwes
Runtime: 1 hour and 41 minutes
In theaters starting September 17th

by Emily Maesar, Staff Writer

When Lucy Standbridge (Aubrey Plaza) takes control of her father’s publishing house, she realizes that mediocre young adult fiction cannot keep the business afloat. Desperate, she tries to figure out a way to hold off on selling the company to some vultures who are circling the dying corpse of her father’s legacy. She soon realizes that the author who put the publishing house on the map, Harris Shaw (Michael Caine), actually owes the publishing house a book - one that they paid for decades ago. Thus begins the story of Lucy and Harris, as they work on trying to make his newest book a best seller.

So, the first thing you’ll notice about Best Sellers is that it was, in large part, produced by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. Which… was a very odd thing to see. And not just because I’d completely forgotten that they made things outside of those books everyone’s mom and aunt swore by in the 1990s. 

No, actually what surprised me the most about seeing the logo for the company (and a few of their subsidiaries) was that I’d operated under the assumption for many years that Chicken Soup for the Soul was mostly Christian and faith-based. Which I don’t think is necessarily wrong, but Pure Flix it is not. And that becomes pretty abundantly clear as we move into the movie and properly meet Harris.

And boy do I love this alcoholic, ornery, old cat man. Caine’s performance is the absolute highlight of the film and it’s very clear that Harris is the emotional core that keeps the movie chugging along. Plaza’s take on Lucy is perfectly fine, but after watching her in various roles for more than a decade? Well... it’s clear that she’s meant to play a weirdo. Lucy’s a bit too normal and well rounded for Plaza to stand out. There are times where it feels like Plaza is making an attempt to do something interesting, but the script is much too normal for any of her cool, weird acting choices to really land.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t just mention the whole “that’s not really how publishing thing works” conversation. I’m generally fine with the creative team changing the specifics of an industry or career, if it works better for the arch of the characters and for the story. Which is certainly what’s done here. My only thought is that the niche audience who might come to the film because of the content, not the actors, are certainly going to have something to say about the way the industry is portrayed. 

But ultimately, I think Best Sellers is good - in a standard kind of way. It’s predictable and fairly paint-by-numbers in its execution, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Like, I genuinely feel like this film is going to be a comfort to a lot of people. It just wasn’t the kind of comfort that I was specifically looking for, and that’s okay. I do think the film might have benefited from letting Aubrey Plaza spread her wings a little more, the way we’re used to from her, but overall it’s a fun romp with a lot of heart.