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reviewed by John Anderson

Bracingly original, alarming and droll, the righteously ribald “Rid of Me” should prove a breakthrough for helmer James Westby and his producer and leading lady, Katie O’Grady. Pic also offers further evidence of the remarkably innovative indie cinema being produced outside New York and Los Angeles — in this case, Portland, Ore., where the domestic meller and the horror movie have met, wed and proven fruitful. A devoted cult following seems more likely than Pacific Northwest rain, although a reasonable ad budget could mean bigger things.

Full article on Variety.com

A low-budget “Mean Girls” is how organizers promoted “Rid of Me,” James Westby’s Oregon-set black comedy that had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Friday night. Although the movie is interested in social fault lines (among adults), particularly between havoc-wreaking outcasts and complacent yuppies, the more apt comparison might be to Miranda July’s “Me and You and Everyone We Know,” only darker and more goth.

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Writer, director, editor and producer James Westby is in town to promote Rid of Me, his newest film, which premieres this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rid of Me can best be described as a period piece, a comedy, a black comedy; OK, it’s nearly horror; but it transitions sweetly into an intimate documentary-styled portrait of self-discovery. In the movie, the talented actress Katie O’Grady plays Meris, a disenfranchised wife, who moves with her husband, Mitch, to his hometown in Portland, Ore.’s suburbs, where Meris, for the first time, meets her husband’s old friends from high school, friends who arouse his former frat boy persona. As a result, Meris’ life becomes a solitary hell, until she mixes with a group of pseudo punk rockers who help Meris grow and ultimately discover herself.

Read the full article on NY Press

by indieWIRE

When newlyweds Meris and Mitch move to Portland, Meris does her best to fit in with her new hubby’s old high school clique. The harder she tries, the more painfully obvious it is that Meris just doesn’t belong. But its not until the gang succeeds in rekindling an old flame between Mitch and his perfect, upbeat first love that Meris—tactfully put—loses it. Her life trashed, Meris settles for a job as a candy store clerk in town. There she finds a real friend in rocker Trudy, who introduces her to the virtues of thick black eyeliner and the grimy underworld of the Northwest punk scene. Self-discovery and 1960s Cambodian rock lie just around the bend.

Full Article on indieWIRE

The Tribeca Film Festival commences this week in New York, promising its usual fistful of revelations and discoveries to go along with the annual world premiere of whatever Edward Burns made for $400,000 this time around. The first such discovery I can claim is Rid of Me, director James Westby’s curious hybrid of psychological drama and pitch-black comedy that, if there’s any justice, should make actress Katie O’Grady a star

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