Lake Bell directs, writes and stars in the comedy “In A World..,” about female voice-coach Carol Solomon, who tries to break into the male-dominated world of trailer voice-overs. Her father, Sam Soto (Fred Melamed), is a legend in the industry.

The documentary aspect of the movie is the most interesting part of it. The voice-over industry is big, but it’s rare to see it depicted on screen. Bell is aware of that and exploits all the comic potential of this universe.

Carol is obsessed with voices, accents and intonations so much that her voice monomania leads her to pull out her microphone anytime she hears a peculiar sound coming from someone’s mouth.

Lake Bell and her character are concerned by the epidemic of “sexy baby voice” that plagues the female population caused, among other things, by reality TV shows.

It is also exciting to see the rivalries and competition that exist just like in any other industries. The way Hollywood can use voice-over to reduce people to certain stereotypes is also tackled in a scene involving Eva Longoria in a self-parody.

For the most part “In A World…” feels like the pilot of a promising TV show, with all the bad connotations these terms can hold.

The movie has democratic ambitions; we are introduced to a multitude of whimsy supporting characters. In an hour and a half, Bell wants to deal with voice-over, adultery, accents and sexism therefore some storylines are initiated and quickly resolves without having any kind of connection to the main story.

At the end Bell tends to abandon her subject to focus more on family drama. Her father who has some opinions about a woman doing trailers voice-over, and is able to do anything for her daughter to not succeed. It will be a question of emancipating herself from her father’s overwhelming presence to find her own voice. Even in these moments the movie avoids corny sentimentality, and handles these topics with smart humor and honesty.

There is a sense of joy, a festive atmosphere in the film that is missing from most comedies/movies today and makes the ticket more than worth it.

“In a World…” won Best Screenplay at the Sundance Film Festival. It is now playing at the Sundance Theater in Madison.