Twinless: The reigning Sundance Audience Award winner tells the story of a pair of Portland, Oregon-based men (Dylan O'Brien, James Sweeney-who also wrote and directed) who form a strong, unlikely bond after meeting in a support group for people who've endured the loss of their twin. To say anything more would ruin the surprising directions the narrative goes into, but what I will say is that O'Brien is in elite form as an honest, nice guy with a meathead streak whose struggling to reconcile with how he allowed the cracks in the relationship with his twin brother-who he was once very close with-to build to the point where they rarely spoke during the final years of his life, Sweeney the actor is similarly great with his ability to play a really tricky role with an open heart even at his ugliest moments and Sweeney the writer/director does a great job of mixing black comedy with vulnerable, emotionally charged drama without the tone ever feeling jarring or inauthentic to the story he's telling. While I'm definitely not among the biggest champions of Twinless out there, it's a must-watch for anybody who feels there aren't enough original movies or grounded human stories out there today.
Grade: B
The Threesome: 20 years ago, The Threesome would've most likely been an American Pie-esque sex comedy. Navigating the fallout of an unexpected threesome is the ideal springboard for 90-100 minutes of dumb jokes, nudity galore and an unexpectedly sweet ending that reminds people that even the crudest motherfuckers on the planet are capable of leading with their hearts from time to time. What Chad Hartigan's The Threesome actually does is turn the ultimate fantasy concept of "guy (Jonah Hauer-King) bangs his longtime crush (Zoey Deutch) and a stranger (Ruby Cruz) who just so happened to be at the restaurant they were both at" into "guy somehow gets both women pregnant and now, all three of them have to deal with a serious situation that none of them could've possibly expected to happen". The more "serious" territory that The Threesome heads into makes it a better movie than it probably would've been otherwise.
While there is the occasional narrative conceit that pops up to remind people that this is indeed a dramatized work of fiction, the degree in which the film commits to approaching this completely absurd scenario as realistically as possible is impressive. The behavior of every character and the conversations they're having with each other all feel true to life (this is a big testament to just how effortlessly natural the lead performances and Ethan Ogliby's writing are), and the movie gives all of its characters grace as they try to wrap their heads around the uh, unique challenges of their new shared reality. On top of the realness it serves up, it also finds the space to be really funny and charming when this story allows for it. The Threesome is one of the bigger pleasant surprises I've come across this year and I hope that it's able to find an audience some point down the line after its short, small theatrical run (indie distributor Vertical only released in 402 theaters in the US this past weekend) comes to a close.
Grade: B+
Splitsville: 2025 further solidifies its standing as the best year for theatrical comedies in forever with the madcap screwball slapstick sensation that is Splitsville. Longtime collaborators Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin have a field day exploring the Pandora's Box that opens up when a man (Marvin) whose wife of 17 months (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce as a result of her infidelity almost immediately turns around and exploits the open relationship his best friend is in (Covino) by having sex with his wife (Dakota Johnson). What's particularly beautiful about Splitsville is that it uses the fragility, insecurity and commitment fears of its main characters as the fuel for a basically non-stop string of ridiculous bits that allows the viewers to laugh as their worlds abruptly fall apart in spectacular fashion. The joke hit rate may not be quite as high as the year's other great comedies (Friendship, The Naked Gun), but there are still plenty of flawlessly assembled bits here that deliver huge laughs (the Chaplin-esque physical comedy of the prolonged fight scene that's teased in the trailer and the opening scene with Marvin and Arjona that takes a completely insane, morbid turn were the top highlights) and all of the established actors here who aren't known for comedy (beyond Johnson and Arjona's terrific work, Charlie Gillespie and Nicholas Braun stand out as the MVP's with their exceptionally funny supporting turns as two of the men that briefly date Arjona's character following her separation from her husband) do a great job of acclimating to the well-oiled dynamic that Covino and Marvin have. Laughing in a movie theater is one of the best things on the planet and it was a great to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon in Boston doing a lot of it while watching Splitsville.
Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment