If you’re going to fire an agent, make it memorable. That’s what the exasperated yet inexperienced actress Audrey (Claire Armstrong) does when she fires hers. “Look at me, Peter! I’m a miracle,” she yells as she’s leaving his office.
Not long after this scene, Daniel Warth’s “Dim the Fluorescents” evolves from a screwball roommate comedy to a melodrama about artistic frustration.
Audrey lives in Toronto with the no-nonsense Lillian (Naomi Skwarna), an aspiring playwright with dreams of financial stability. The two are stuck producing over-the-top live corporate training demonstrations, but dream of more ambitious projects that will garner respect from their artist circles. Now, their luck may change after a major conference offers the friends their largest audience yet.
Their optimism is short-lived. The women’s working relationship sours under the pressure and they change too. Anti-depressants go untaken, frantic calls are left unanswered and two likable characters become unrecognizable. This jarring change from comedy to tragedy is unsettling, and, as “Dim the Fluorescents” languishes in the women’s bitter breakup, becomes tedious.
Mr. Warth’s background as a film editor proves useful when bouncing between screwball-speed dialogue and deadpan reaction shots. He enhances the contrast between the women’s colorful apartment and the antiseptic business world as a visual punch line. Mr. Warth, who wrote the screenplay with Miles Barstead, creates a flawed tale of female friendship and the artist’s everlasting struggle. Unfortunately, “Dim the Fluorescents” can’t keep its story together.
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