If Pretty Woman was a weirdly glossy whorish spin on Cinderella for the 1990s, Anora updates that spin for the 2020s by stripping away (so to speak) gauzy artifice for a bit of gritty realism (and a wild epilogue). Our heroine (Mikey Madison) is also a sex worker, but you literally meet Anora (or Ani, as she prefers to be called) breasts first, in the middle of grinding on a customer. As an exotic dancer at a gentlemen’s club, she teasingly lures men to the back room for personal attention and is rewarded by Franklins tucked into her g-string in return. Cute and sassy, she’s really good at her job.
When her boss picks Ani specifically to entertain a new customer because she can speak Russian, she turns on the charm and gets to work. The customer is Ivan, a goofy floppy-haired young man, with a boyish, guileless enthusiasm of his own… not to mention he has really deep pockets. Ani and Ivan genuinely have chemistry, so after some finagling, she agrees to be his exclusive “date” for the week. Lots and lots of jackrabbit-style sex, booze, and coke later, they spontaneously move their partying to Vegas and, next thing you know, they’re getting married at a quickie chapel. The whirlwind of it all is strangely sweet… that is until Ivan’s parents in Russia find out.
This is where Pretty Woman ends, and Anora kicks into its own wild gear. You see, Ivan’s the son of a Russian oligarch. His fancy water-view house on Coney Island? Belongs to the parents. Rumors of Ivan marrying a “prostitute” (Ani is very offended by this description) have somehow hit Russian tabloids, so Ivan’s father has made some phone calls. A trio of Armenian “fixers” show up at Ivan’s door, instructed to haul the kid’s ass to the courthouse for an immediate annulment to save face. If it were only so easy.
Director Sean Baker clearly has affection for the working girls of the working class, and Ani herself (refreshingly) is never demeaned. Ani is hilariously strong willed and can absolutely handle herself even when she is obviously in a dangerous situation. It’s a great showcase for Mikey Madison, as her spirited foul mouth and colorful threats make the thugs flinch way more than any physical punch. The fixers are all great, especially Yura Borisov’s baddie Igor, as hired muscle with a heart of gold. And Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan, the center of all this attention, is sweet and spoiled, with the maturity of someone half his age, simply because he has never needed to grow up.
Luckily, as the henchmen try to corral the young lovers, what should be harrowing territory is rerouted into a slapstick wild ride through nighttime New York. The style of the film is frenetic and I’m sure some will find it exhausting, with characters constantly screaming and/or yelling over each other. At almost 2 hours and 20 minutes, it’s a lot. Both invigorating and exhausting, Anora most certainly could have lost 20 minutes. But with its raw style and bafflingly hilarious dialogue that seems almost unscripted, it’s a wildly entertaining ride.
