''Girl Walks into a Bar'' is a 2011 multiple story line ensemble comedy film produced exclusively for Internet distribution. It was written and directed by Sebastián Gutiérrez, like the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

style of Gutiérrez's '' Women in Trouble'', and follows a group of apparent strangers in interlocking stories taking place in ten different bars during the course of one evening throughout

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. ''Girl Walks into a Bar'' premiered at The ArcLight Hollywood Cinemas on March 7, 2011, in

and screened as an official selection of the Spotlight Premieres section at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival 2011 in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. The film is currently available in the United States to watch for free exclusively on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

with sponsorship from

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

Plot

An undercover ex-cop named Francine Driver (

Carla Gugino Carla Gugino ( ; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After early roles in the films '' Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989), '' This Boy's Life'' (1993), '' Son in Law'' (1993), and '' Snake Eyes'' (1998), Gugino received wider recognition fo ...

), who poses as a hitman, meets a dentist – Nick (

Zachary Quinto Zachary John Quinto (; born June 2, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010); Spock in the film ''Star Trek ...

) – in a Los Angeles bar. Nick wants his wife Karen ( Lauren Lee Smith) dead. He does not have the upfront payment of $20,000, but he promises he can get it for her before the night is over. When he leaves, Francine meets a young man named Henry (

Aaron Tveit Aaron Kyle Tveit (; born October 21, 1983) is an American actor and singer. Tveit originated the lead role of Christian in the stage adaptation of ''Moulin Rouge! (musical), Moulin Rouge!'' on Broadway theatre, Broadway, a performance for which ...

), a photographer who charms her before stealing her wallet and running off into the night. Her wallet contains the device used to record her conversation with Nick, and the evidence is incriminating. This begins Francine's frantic search through the bars and clubs of Los Angeles. As she journeys, a number of characters are introduced. There is Henry's sister, Teresa (

Emmanuelle Chriqui Emmanuelle Sophie Anne Chriqui ( ; born 10 December 1975) is a Canadian actress. She is known for playing Sloan McQuewick on HBO's '' Entourage'' (2004–11), Claire Bonner in '' Snow Day'' (2000), Dalia in ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'' (200 ...

), an exotic dancer. There is Teresa and Henry's father, Dodge (

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...

), an ex-con who gives his son the most baffling of advice and has a strange fixation on bones. There is Nick's patient, Aldo (

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...

), a gangster who can get Nick his money ... but only by roping him into participating in a heist. There is a bartender named Camilla (

Amber Valletta Amber Evangeline Valletta (born February 9, 1974) is an American model and actress. She began her career as a fashion model, landing her first of 17 American '' Vogue'' covers in February 1993. During the 1990s, Valletta reached the status of su ...

), who is having relationship problems with her divorced upstairs neighbor. There is June (

Rosario Dawson Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama '' Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in B ...

), a hatcheck girl for an exclusive nude ping pong club. There is Francine's superior, Sam Salazar (

Josh Hartnett Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor. He began his career on American Broadcasting Company, ABC's drama series ''Cracker (American TV series), Cracker'' (1997–1998), after which he became known as a teen idol thro ...

), who is always addressed as Officer but is actually a detective. Then there is Francine's ex-husband, Emmit (

Gil Bellows Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadian actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. Upon graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began acting in films and television. Bellows also earned critical acclaim for his stage p ...

), who has something Francine wants.

Cast

as Francine Driver *

as Teresa *

as Sam Salazar *

as Aldo *

as June *

as Nick *

as Dodge *

as Henry *

as Camilla *

as Emmit *

Kevin Zegers Kevin Zegers (born September 19, 1984) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his roles as Josh Framm in the ''Air Bud'' film series, Toby Osbourne in '' Transamerica'' (2005), Damien Dalgaard in the CW teen drama ''Gossip Girl'', and as rookie ...

as Billy *

Alexis Bledel Kimberly Alexis Bledel ( ; born September 16, 1981) is an American Actor, actress and Model (person), model. She is best known for her roles as Rory Gilmore on the television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007) and Emily Malek in ''The Handm ...

as Kim *

Michelle Ryan Michelle Claire Ryan (born 22 April 1984) is an English actress, best known for portraying the role of Zoe Slater in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' (2000–2005, 2025–present). In 2007, she starred in the short-lived American television s ...

as Loretta *

Xander Berkeley Alexander Harper Berkeley (born December 16, 1955) is an American actor. Since beginning his career in the early 1980s, he has appeared in over 200 film and television projects. His films include ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), ''Candyman ...

as Moe * Lauren Lee Smith as Karen

Production

''Girl Walks into a Bar'' is produced by Gutiérrez's Gato Negro Films and co-produced by

Steve Bing Stephen Leo Bing (March 31, 1965 – June 22, 2020) was an American businessman, film producer, investor, and philanthropist. He had business interests in property and construction and was the founder of Shangri-La Entertainment and Shangri-La ...

's and Zach Schwartz's Shangri-La Entertainment.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place in

in March 2010. The film was shot in eleven days with a

Canon 7D The Canon EOS 7D is a high-end APS-C digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon. It was announced on 1 September 2009 with a suggested retail price of US$1,699, and was marketed as a semi-professional DSLR camera. Among its features are ...

high-definition camera. Inspired by a scene from Gutiérrez's Elektra Luxx, it is a kind of

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

-esque ''

Short Cuts ''Short Cuts'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film, directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver. The film is set in Los Angeles, in contr ...

''. Sebastián Gutiérrez claimed at the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

premiere of '' Elektra Luxx'' that ''Girl Walks Into a Bar'' is the first major motion picture with a cast of notable stars created exclusively for Web distribution. Quoted in an official press release, Gutiérrez revealed "We want to prove that Web distribution is a viable medium for theatrical quality movies which rely on story, characters and dialogue as opposed to special effects. For many reasons the theatrical indie landscape has changed drastically in the last few years, leaving many potential breakout hits without an audience. We are excited to break the rules of feature films by letting people watch our movie for free online." Locomotive Distribution is handling worldwide sales.

Release

Shangri-La Entertainment entered into an agreement with

and

to present ''Girl Walks into a Bar'' free, exclusively in the YouTube Screening Room, a platform designed to showcase top films from around the world, premiering March 11, 2011, and viewable only by visitors from the United States. The presentation marks the first time a major motion picture was created exclusively for Web distribution. "With ''Girl Walks into a Bar'', the cast and crew came together to create something different – a high quality, really fun character-driven film that we could present to audiences for free using a new

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

model," said Gutierrez. "We found great partners in

and

to support the film while providing us with the stage to draw the largest audience possible." Although it was intended for worldwide distribution, the film has been blocked from the United Kingdom, Canada and the rest of the world on copyright grounds. ''Girl Walks into a Bar'' is currently only available in the United States to watch for free exclusively on

. In 2019 it was, however, noted that viewers in the UK could watch it on YouTube. ''Girl Walks into a Bar'' marks

's first entry into film presentation. ''Girl Walks into a Bar'' was released on DVD on August 14, 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Walks Into A Bar 2011 films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Sebastian Gutiérrez (director) Films with screenplays by Sebastian Gutiérrez (director) Films set in California Films set in Los Angeles American independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films