The Debut

For its closing night selection, the Key West Film Festival goes out with a bang. Awards season chatter is getting loud for Julianne Moore, who may be up for another Oscar for her performance in the latest comedy written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. She plays Mona Friedman, a suburban housewife stuck in the existential mud. She seizes an opportunity to shake things up when she auditions for a role in a local community theater production. She's terrible, but when the musical's hard-nosed director, played by Paul Giamatti, suddenly needs a new actress for the part, Mona's on. Eisenberg's knack for sharp writing and nuanced comedy filtered with dark touches, so successfully on display in his own debut ("A Real Pain"), is fully engaged. Variety called the film a cross between "Waiting for Guffman" and the Coen Brothers. Critic Alison Willmore, of Vulture.com, will introduce the film.