An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon.
Ultimately, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is like a hyperactive kid at a punk rock show-full of great energy and ambition, but not too sure what to do with it.
Shortbus director John Cameron Mitchell revives the cartoonish mania of that outing and applies it to what resembles a film-school project held together with papier-mache and zany indulgence.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties is primarily a vessel for the attitude coursing through all of Mitchell's work: Even the most outrageous behavior comes from a real place.
The film's tagline goes "Talk to the girl. Save the world," but at no point does Earth's fate hang in the balance, and talking to Elle Fanning's Zan is no great challenge for anyone.
