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Drinking Buddies
That fuzzy line between friendship and relationship and the age old cinematic question can men and women ever just be friends are examined in a 2013 comedy-drama called Drinking Buddies that makes some valid points but just takes a little too long to get where it's going.
Luke and Kate are co-workers in a brewery who are also BFF's and playfully flirt with each other all the time. Luke is romantically involved with Jill and there are men in Kate's life as well. The story clearly establishes a friendship between these two people that is so special but those lines somehow never cross until one fateful weekend where they all go away together and the viewer is immediately scratching their heads about the validity of the relationships that we are being asked to accept here.
Director and writer Joe Swanberg is showing the influence of a lot of different filmmakers in this story...there's a little Bergman, a little Woody Allen, and especially a little Nora Ephron because fans of When Harry Met Sally will recognize a lot of the issues explored here, though it would have been nice if Swanberg had spent a little less time on exposition and gotten directly to the meat of the story...the weekend where everything looks wrong on the surface. I suspect the reason the beginning plays out as it does is because Swanberg wants to show us that relationships aren't always neat and tied up in a bow and cannot always be changed just because we want them to.
Swanberg's screenplay does an admirable job of showing the muddy waters the relationships that populate this canvas. There is one terrific scene where Jill and Luke decide to have a talk about marriage and Jill makes it clear that she's not ready but until she actually says it, you can see the little beads of sweat forming on Luke's forehead.
Swanberg has crafted a story that has a very improvised and voyeuristic feel to it...his camerawork almost always makes the viewer feel like they are intruding on some very personal moments. Swanberg picks a perfect situation to explore a friendship when Luke offers to help move, for many a new plateau on the friendship journey, we don't offer to help just anyone move. As a matter of fact, this is where the movie really kicks into gear; unfortunately, it's more than halfway through. I love when Luke cuts his hand while trying to get her sofa out of the old apartment and the completely different ways Kate and Jill react to it.
The saggy moments here are aided by a terrific pair of lead performances from Jake Johnson as Luke and Olivia Wilde as Kate. Johnson and Wilde worked together on the FOX series New Girl so fans of that show will definitely have ahead start and Anna Kendrick is charming as Jill. It takes a little too long to get going and it doesn't deliver what we're hoping for, but it is realistic and entertainment can be gleaned here.
That fuzzy line between friendship and relationship and the age old cinematic question can men and women ever just be friends are examined in a 2013 comedy-drama called Drinking Buddies that makes some valid points but just takes a little too long to get where it's going.
Luke and Kate are co-workers in a brewery who are also BFF's and playfully flirt with each other all the time. Luke is romantically involved with Jill and there are men in Kate's life as well. The story clearly establishes a friendship between these two people that is so special but those lines somehow never cross until one fateful weekend where they all go away together and the viewer is immediately scratching their heads about the validity of the relationships that we are being asked to accept here.
Director and writer Joe Swanberg is showing the influence of a lot of different filmmakers in this story...there's a little Bergman, a little Woody Allen, and especially a little Nora Ephron because fans of When Harry Met Sally will recognize a lot of the issues explored here, though it would have been nice if Swanberg had spent a little less time on exposition and gotten directly to the meat of the story...the weekend where everything looks wrong on the surface. I suspect the reason the beginning plays out as it does is because Swanberg wants to show us that relationships aren't always neat and tied up in a bow and cannot always be changed just because we want them to.
Swanberg's screenplay does an admirable job of showing the muddy waters the relationships that populate this canvas. There is one terrific scene where Jill and Luke decide to have a talk about marriage and Jill makes it clear that she's not ready but until she actually says it, you can see the little beads of sweat forming on Luke's forehead.
Swanberg has crafted a story that has a very improvised and voyeuristic feel to it...his camerawork almost always makes the viewer feel like they are intruding on some very personal moments. Swanberg picks a perfect situation to explore a friendship when Luke offers to help move, for many a new plateau on the friendship journey, we don't offer to help just anyone move. As a matter of fact, this is where the movie really kicks into gear; unfortunately, it's more than halfway through. I love when Luke cuts his hand while trying to get her sofa out of the old apartment and the completely different ways Kate and Jill react to it.
The saggy moments here are aided by a terrific pair of lead performances from Jake Johnson as Luke and Olivia Wilde as Kate. Johnson and Wilde worked together on the FOX series New Girl so fans of that show will definitely have ahead start and Anna Kendrick is charming as Jill. It takes a little too long to get going and it doesn't deliver what we're hoping for, but it is realistic and entertainment can be gleaned here.