Mistress America

We’ve seen the sort of brooding, angst-ridden character in Mistress America many times before — an artsy type trying to navigate the perils of urban college life.

Indeed, the latest indie comedy from director Noah Baumbach (While We’re Young) is a sardonic satire of higher education that contains some big laughs and captures the hustle and bustle of its setting. But as the latest farce about female bonding in the big city, it’s more about attitude than substance.

Specifically, Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a neurotic freshman at a small college in Manhattan who’s struggling with her social life. Her overbearing mother suggests she call Brooke (Greta Gerwig), a free spirit who is about to become her half-sister thanks to the engagement of their respective parents.

Despite an age difference of about a decade, the women form a bond as a kind of mentor and protégé, with Brooke whisking Tracy into her breakneck, highly opinionated world of ambitious dreams and diverse social engagements.

While Brooke’s ebullience can be captivating, it also seems to mask an inner turmoil, especially with regard to her relationship to an unseen Greek boyfriend whose financial problems complicate Brooke’s sketchy plans to open a restaurant, causing a chain reaction of trust issues and past grudges.

Gerwig’s impetuous motormouth is fascinating but not particularly appealing, and it’s ultimately difficult to sympathize with her smug self-absorption. Is she eloquent and profound, or is she just blowing smoke? At any rate, Brooke spearheads a sharp collection of one-liners — “There’s no adultery when you’re 18,” she quips to some impressionable coeds. “You should all be touching each other all the time” — yet they don’t add up to much.

The film tries to embrace the same hipster cool attitude as its protagonists with mixed results, since the two main characters are more exhausting than endearing. The quirky folks on the periphery often are more amusing, especially during an extended climax filled with petty bickering.

By the end, the breezy script by Baumbach and Gerwig (who are collaborating for the third time) is muddled in its attempts at deeper relationship insight, and its whimsy feels more artificially strained than authentically charming.

Rated R, 84 minutes.