FORGET ABOUT IT

Young woman vexed over the direction that her so-called life has taken fakes amnesia after a bike accident, in hopes of making a fresh start.

For Jordan Landau, 25 is not shaping up to be a great age. Broke and working as a glorified gopher at a Manhattan ad agency, she has a boss who steals her ideas and a boorish boyfriend, Dirk, who appears to be cheating on her. A pushover with a habit of watching her own life from the sidelines, Jordan is also saddled with a critical harpy of a mother and an antagonistic younger sister who takes every opportunity to belittle her. So when she accidentally collides with a car and crashes her bike, she decides to fake amnesia and reinvent herself. Jordan takes on a new-and-improved personality, and for a time it serves her well. At work, she is able to present ideas with confidence, and by “forgetting” how hung up on Dirk she once was, she gets to gleefully torment the cad, who consequently shows a lot more interest in her. And then there is Travis, the guy whose car she ran into. A quirky dreamer who is saving up to buy his own restaurant, Travis is a natural love match for Jordan, in spite of her mother’s plan (under the guise of “helping” her daughter) to sue him for all he’s worth. But just as Jordan begins to feel guilty about her ruse, karma steps in. The subsequent far-fetched twist makes way for several goofy developments that Jordan would never have anticipated. Crane’s second effort (Stupid and Contagious, 2006) is often funny, but it could have benefited from having as much character development as it has punch lines.

Comic bon-bon with a heroine who finds herself after (nearly) losing her mind.