Review: Anti-romantic comedy 'Spinster,' a showcase for Chelsea Peretti, takes a while to find its groove

Chelsea Peretti is an abundantly charming person on screen — as fans of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” can attest — so it’s doubly annoying that the anti-romantic comedy “Spinster” doesn’t allow that charm to kick in for way too long.

Much of the issue stems from the character Peretti plays in Jennifer Deyell’s script. Gaby is a Halifax caterer who refuses to sell the fantasy of the perfect wedding that her customers want — because, at 39, she doesn’t think such romance exists. It certainly doesn’t for her and Nathan (Eugene Sampang), her boyfriend, who breaks up with her for a woman he met on Facebook.

Gaby’s post-breakup support network includes her married-with-kids best friend, Amanda (Susan Kent), her perpetually worried dad (Bill Carr), and her divorced brother, Alex (David Rossetti), who asks Gaby to babysit his 10-year-old daughter, Adele (Nadia Tonen) — because the one night his ex-wife allows Alex to have custody of Adele is also when he has open-mic nights to pursue his dreams to be a stand-up comic.

It takes awhile for Deyell’s script to set the table, and one wishes the writer, or director Andrea Dorfman, had taken one more pass through the screenplay to punch up the jokes. But eventually the story settles into a nice groove, as Gaby’s hapless romantic experiences — and her new friendships with her niece, Adele, and new neighbor, a 60-something professor, Callie (Kate Lynch) — help her realize that being alone may not be the worst thing to be.

Dorfman employs a light touch, where even Deyell’s more strident dialogue passages play nicely. She also gives Peretti space to explore the character, as Gaby discovers her own passion for life and her self-worth. 

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‘Spinster’

★★1/2

Available Friday, August 7, as a video-on-demand rental on most streaming platforms. Not rated, but probably R for language and some sexual material. Running time: 90 minutes