Girls Talk

A strong cast led by Brooke Shields assaults your ears and tickles your funny bone with rapid-fire, rapier-sharp dialogue making the ninety minutes of Girls Talk go by before you know it. Yet an ambiguous ending leaves you up in the air.

Written and directed by Cruel Intentions director Roger Kumble, the sometimes-lethal repartee comes fast and furious amongst the five Girls.

Shields more than ably handles Lori, a once successful career woman, who, now a housewife and mother, mans a breast pump for her newborn twins amidst a messy, toy-strewn house (realistically designed by Tom Buderwitz). Shields can curse a blue streak and toss a barbed one-liner with the best of them - then, in the next moment, pour on the tears.

To get her daughter Emily into the "better Jewish" school, Lori is kissing up to Jane, close friend of the headmistress and the authority on all things Mom, deftly played as totally unlikable and condescending by Andrea Bendewald. Sometimes a bitch just can't be sympathetic and this is the right time not to be.

Young shiksa trophy wife Scarlett shows up to partake in Lori's ass-kissing lunch for Jane. Nicole Paggi grabs the balls and hits them out of the ballpark, milking every laugh line Scarlett has to say. Paggi steals almost every scene she plays.

Claire, Lori's long-lost BFF, former writing partner and non-Mom, unexpectedly shows up just before the lunch guests arrive to commiserate with her old pal. As expertly played by Constance Zimmer, Claire is the snarky voice of reason in this play. Zimmer keeps the Type A, acid-tongued Claire sympathetic and the one to root for, not an easy task in a room full of moms.

Wonder if all the insider Hollywood references will play as well outside of the Hollywood crowd?

The non-English-speaking nanny situation was not a favorite. The hackneyed device of Lori not being able to communicate her simple directives to Zuza, the Spanish-speaking nanny goes on beyond funny. Of course, this is the set-up for Claire calling Lori a racist (another extraneous plot point). Eileen Galindo does get the chance to flesh out Zuza's Mexican stereotype with some warmth once the language barrier bit is mercifully over.

All this leads to the pivotal moment when the audience gets to witness Lori's meltdown. In Shield's face, you can see her agony over losing control, her finest moments coming inside the desperation in trying to do the right thing when faced with an impossible choice: her happiness with a career or her responsibility to the well-being of her children.

Unfortunately, playwright Kumble leaves the audience hanging with an ambiguous ending. After spending all this time with Lori, we need to know what happens to her. Will Lori return to her writing and have to abandon her Mommy volunteering/kissing up duties? Or will Lori turn down the chance to write for Oprah to get Emily into the better Jewish school?

Could this be a set-up for Girls Talk 2?