The film co-stars Demetri Martin, Fred Melamed, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Nick Offerman, and Tig Notaro.

Bell presents the subject matter as a lifelong interest and a natural pursuit based on her life experiences; she spent several years writing the film's script.

An upcoming film series, The Amazon Games, plans to bring back the "In a world..." line made famous by LaFontaine.

While waiting for Dani to come home from work, Moe listens to the recording of her interview with the hotel guest and is shocked at her lie.

Gustav boasts to Sam of his night with some party-crasher, and when he learns she is the woman in competition for the job, he decides to keep pursuing her, still not fully realizing who she is.

Dani is distraught about her husband, and Carol secretly records her anguish, sending the message to Moe to help win him back.

In the ladies room, Carol encounters Huling, who bluntly tells her that she was not the best person for the job, but was chosen for the greater meaning of having a woman in that role.

[5] Bell's claim was supported by a rough survey of trailer producers published in The Kansas City Star by Andy Isaacson of The New York Times.

[8] The film's script built on Bell's lifelong interest in the nuances of voices, accents, dialects and speech patterns.

[9][10] Her production role and directorial performance built upon her time spent watching crews set up scenes rather than relaxing in her trailer.

[12] Nonetheless, locations include the following: The Scientology Celebrity Center,[13][16] The California Club,[16] The Millennium Biltmore Hotel lobby,[16] and KCET Studios.

[5] She counts The King of Comedy, Hannah and her Sisters, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Citizen Ruth as cinematic inspirations.

The site's consensus is, "A funny, well-written screwball satire for film buffs, In a World... proves an auspicious beginning for writer, director, and star Lake Bell.

Scott of The New York Times praised Bell's performance for its "blend of diffidence, goofiness and charm" as well as the deceptively "complex and ambitious" result of her writing and directing insights.

[34] According to National Public Radio, the comedy, has an underlying "moving story about female empowerment," with Bell's character Carol serving as voice-over industry counterpart to Rocky Balboa.

[3] John Anderson of Variety notes the picture achieves its most important goal of making the voiceover industry something of interest to a broad audience.

[35] He describes it as "a rollicking laffer about the cutthroat voiceover biz in Los Angeles" and "a film with too many laugh lines to be absorbed in one sitting.

"[35] Anderson describes Bell as a "magnetic, intelligent, blithely screwball leading lady in the Carole Lombard tradition.

"[35] Claudia Puig of USA Today noted that the film employed both a "fresh premise and convincing characters" and praised its deceptive simplicity in blending multiple genres (adult daughter–aging father relationship, a late-blooming coming-of-age tale, a lively satire, a sweet romantic comedy and a subtly inspiring feminist saga).

[36] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times found the film endearing despite its flaws that included an "out of sorts" lead.

[37] In a review for in The Independent Geoffrey Macnab describes the film as a surprising delight and triumph supported by Bell's "refreshingly subtle and understated" directing and "well-written" indie script.

"[39] At Collider, Matt Goldberg describes the film as a "rambling mess" that somehow won him over despite its poor pacing, scrambled plot and lack of depth.

[42] Bell was honored with the Breakthrough of the Year Award (shared with Joshua Oppenheimer—The Act of Killing) and was listed in the Best Actress top 10 honorees by the Dublin Film Critics' Circle.