‘Good Time’ brings roommates together in unusual career

Two girls come together to start a fruitful entrepreneurial business. Only,…

Courtesy of Focus Features

Lauren (left) and Katie (right) use their phone sex business to put all differences aside.

Two girls come together to start a fruitful entrepreneurial business. Only, these girls are in the business of sex operating.

Like other comedies about women set in New York City, “For a Good Time, Call…” tells the story of two post-collegiate roommates, Katie (Ari Graynor) and Lauren (Lauren Miller), who struggle to  pay rent each month. The story is based on Lauren Miller’s real-life friendship with her college roommate, Katie Naylon, and the film acts as Miller’s debut as both a writer and lead actress.

Since it’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, “For a Good Time, Call…” has been anticipated as a raunchy comedy similar to movies like “Bridesmaids” and “Bachelorette.”

The beginning of the film is predictable. Katie and Lauren have hated each other for the past 10 years because of a college party foul. But around the same time that Lauren gets dumped by her boring boyfriend, Katie is on the verge of being evicted from her spacious apartment that overlooks Gramercy Park. So Jesse (Justin Long), a mutual friend of the two girls, sells the place to Lauren by telling her, “If there was a knot big enough in the floor, I would f**k the s**t out of this place.”

Katie — the token party girl complete with a stripper pole in her living room — and Lauren, better described as a wallflower, clash in their living situation initially. But a few days after she moves in, Lauren finds out that her new roommate is employed as a nail technician, a waitress, a flyer distributor and phone sex operator. And instead of passing judgment on her new roommate’s many jobs, Lauren is intrigued.

When Lauren loses her job, she decides to help Katie expand her “services” by creating their own hotline. Lauren acts as the business manager, while Katie takes care of the dirty work.

This movie is raunchy because it uses every foul, four-letter word a film can script in relation to sex. While it’s entertaining to hear women talk explicitly and openly about sex, some scenes could have done without the constant innuendo.

Although sometimes oversexed, no scene in this movie feels contrived. Perhaps it has something to do with the surprise cameo from Miller’s husband, Seth Rogan, which made a phone call threesome feel all too natural. Or maybe it’s Justin Long’s role as the best gay friend you’ll never have.

The writing is quick, the humor is punchy and the plot is just unique enough to make for a movie that is legitimately worth seeing in theaters with your best friend.