Starlet is a 2012 indie drama film written and directed by Sean Baker. It stars Dree Hemingway and Besedka Johnson.
Jane is a young woman who begins living in a room in Los Angeles with her friend Melissa and her boyfriend Mikey. After scouring yard sales for furniture and purchasing an old thermos to use as a vase, she discovers ten thousand dollars hidden inside and decides to try and get to know the elderly woman who sold it to her.
Tropes present:
- Alpha Bitch: Jane's roommate, Melissa, to insufferable levels.
- Ambiguous Ending: No confrontation occurs between Jane and Sadie about the money despite Melissa's interference. Whether it occurs after the ending is left ambiguous, but regardless, Sadie doesn't appear to be particularly offended.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Sadie begins the movie very short and blunt with Jane, hiding no dislike for her presence. Gradually, she warms up to their relationship. It's implied at the very end that she's been apprehensive to get close to anyone else because of the loss she's experienced in her lifetime.
- Dumb Blonde: Jane is never shown to be particularly book smart, and does lots of air-headed things like drink from a glass after her own dog.
- Dumb Is Good: The film is much more favorable towards genuine acts of service than it is towards intelligence. Jane's Dumb Blonde tendencies are never implied to be a true hinderance to her character.
- False Friend: Melissa turns out to be one of these. When she drunkenly recommends that Jane spend her "hypothetical" money on someone close to her, she freaks out when Tess does exactly that on Sadie and not her.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: While Jane may not necessarily display a traditional heart of gold (keeping her mouth shut about stashing ten thousand dollars she found in an elderly woman's thermos), she does frequently go out of her way to help the people around her for no reward.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Jane and Sadie's relationship is pretty much the driving point of the entire movie. They're 21 and 85, respectively.
- Karma Houdini:
- Melissa is never seen suffering any comeuppance for her erratic behavior.
- Despite Jane's theft being the driving force of the plot, she is never confronted by Sadie.
- No Antagonist: The closest thing this film has to a villain is Melissa, who is just an annoying False Friend to Jane.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Melissa isn's so much a villain as she is an extremely whiny and petty deuteragonist. She has no effect other than inconveniences throughout a majority of the movie up until the end, when she drives to Sadie's house to tell her that Jane stole her money from their start of the relationship. Sadie clearly undergoes an internal struggle afterward.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Sadie is revealed to have buried her daughter next to her husband.
- Prone to Tears: Melissa is overly emotional to the point of crying to her boyfriend and skipping work after breaking a nail. She cries again when she doesn't get paid for missing work.
- Replacement Goldfish: Jane appears to be on good terms with her mother, but the distance between them is implied to contribute to her attachment towards Sadie. The ending implies that Sadie also may have found a surrogate daughter in Jane when it's revealed she lost her daughter years ago.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Melissa's boyfriend Mikey swears an unnecessary amount, with his Establishing Character Moment including a Cluster F-Bomb.
- Stripperific: Jane and Melissa frequently wear outfits that qualify as this. Justified, as the two of them are adult film stars.
- Your Tom Cat Is Pregnant: Sadie is surprised to discover that Starlet is male. Jane explains that the name came first and the dog came second.
