Those expecting a wild-and-crazy Hangover
retread, based on the title, may be disappointed in this naturalistic
indie film that is perhaps 70% drama and 30% comedy. Olivia Wilde (of Fox’s House M.D.) and Jake Johnson (of Fox’s New Girl)
play coworkers at a craft brewery (in Chicago, though you can’t
tell). Ron Livingston (Office Space) and Anna Kendrick play the
love interests, and the story, such as there is, centers around a
camping trip the foursome take at a cozy cottage along the shore. Director Joe Swanberg, a movie-making machine withover a dozen little-seen features to his credit in seven years (and even more as an actor), establishes
the characters and the style early one, with hand-held camera work and
improvised dialogue. The movie looks too carefully shot to be cinéma
vérité, but it’s to the credit of the actors that it sometimes sounds
like the director simply followed around
a group of friends and filmed them. The lack of a score (though there
are some songs with a chill vibe) contributes to this sense. The actors
also wear noticeably less makeup than in most movies.
Swanberg has been identified with the “mumblecore” school of
moviemaking, and there’s lots of fumbling around in the characters’
speech and a few awkward silences, though I didn’t think the movie was
as slow as some other movies shot this way. More significantly, the emphasis
is not on plot, but on the relationship that occupies a
sometimes-uncomfortable space between platonic and romantic. The low-key ending will not be to all tastes but makes sense in the context of a low-key film.
viewed 7/22/13 7:00 pm at Ritz Bourse [PFS screening] and reviewed 7/23 and 7/24/13
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