Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, which made one of the splashiest deals at the last Toronto Film Festival in acquiring U.S. distribution rights to the Kristen Wiig-Annette Bening-starrer Imogene, has set the film for a July 19 nationwide release. They’ve also changed the film’s title to the catchier Girl Most Likely.

When it was bought, I remember thinking that Imogene was an awful title, unless the film was a biopic of Imogene Coca, and I wouldn’t go see that movie anyway. The new title is a clever reference to Wiig’s character, a one-time playwright-to-watch who unfortunately has saved her most dramatic moments for her trainwreck of a life. A crisis of confidence stunts her professional momentum and when her boyfriend dumps her, she fakes a suicide attempt. She thinks he’ll be sympathetic and take her back. Instead, she’s consigned to return home to Jersey to live with her estranged gambling addict batshit crazy mother (Bening). Matt Dillon, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Darren Criss also star, and American Splendor‘s Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer directed from Michelle Morgan’s script. Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler, Alix Madigan-Yorkin and Mark Amin produced it.

The film is right now being contemplated as a theatrical release, though Lionsgate and Roadside have previously done well with multi-platform releases Arbitrage, Friends With Kids and Margin Call. The film’s premise is probably too dark to expect a replay of Bridesmaids, but Wiig, sorely missed on Saturday Night Live this season, is certainly an actress worth watching.