Director: Lynn Shelton
If you had only seen the first scene of this movie and had to judge it on that, you'd think that it probably be as good as Lynn Shelton's last movie Humpday, but unfortunately the great realistic social awkwardness of that first scene does not last. There are later scenes of social awkwardness, but the awkwardness veers more towards melodrama. Like many improv-heavy films with good actors, the dialogue is a joy to listen to, mostly because you feel like you're actually listening in on someone's private conversation. But as the "getting-to-know-the-characters" part of the movie comes to a close, and the melodramatic plot comes into focus, that real life dialogue starts to get pushed out of the way in favor of some fairly contrived plot points.
I won't spoil it, but I will say that everything that happens in this movie is entirely predictable but also very inconsequential. The movie just doesn't feel important. Even for a low-key "mumblecore" filmmaker like Shelton, this is a pretty minor effort. Most of the movie is set in one house, and it only features about three characters for 90% of the running time. But that's not why the movie doesn't have much of an impact. The movie feels lackluster because nothing of any consequence happens, and the big events that do happen don't feel unique or special in any way. I saw this film in a movie theater, and this was one of the few times I've thought to myself that the movie experience would not be diminished at all if I had seen it on a small screen.
Grade: C-
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