STARRING: Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin. Written by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin. Directed by Michael Angelo Covino. Running time 104 minutes.
The plot follows two American couples, newly married life coach Ashley (Adria Arjona) and private school teacher Carey (Kyle Marvin) and their seriously well off friends, potter Julie (Dakota Johnson) and real estate developer Paul (Michael Angelo Covino). When after just 13 months of marriage Ashley tells Carey she wants a divorce she sets into motion an insane series of events that will break up and make relationships in the most unexpected fashion. Expect outrageous fights, multiple cases of eyebrow abuse, car crashes, dog poo, a veritable massacre of gold fish, a surprising amount of dick, brilliant dialogue and some fanstically clever sight gags, check out the portraits behind the Headmaster in his office. The film is peppered with great gags, additional characters and humour drier than a desert.
Writer, director and co-star Michael Angelo Covino delivers a truly and fantastically funny and chaotic comedy about modern relationships, he doesn't take the lead role, that falls to Kyle Marvin, but he does take perhaps the funniest, Paul, who proudly claims that his marriage to Julie is an 'open one', and that both partners are free to take lovers if and when they choose. Trouble is that when he finds out his best friend, Carey has slept with his wife he loses control and the proceeding fight almost destroys his fabulous lake side house. But that's just the beginning, thrown into the mix is Carey who has an unexpected and unusual solution to his wife leaving him, he moves back home and befriends her multiple lovers inviting them to move in with them.
And even that much information isn't spoiling the film, this really was genuinely funny with a great cast. I gotta say that I've always thought that Dakota Johnson wasn't any good, I thought she was downright atrocious in Madame Web but here she absolutely shines, she's the brilliant centre of this film around all the other cast seem to gravitate to, perhaps because she's the only grown-up in this group. But kudos to the rest of the cast too, Adria Arjona as the life coach who keeps trying to read her breakup letter to Carey, editing it as she goes along is both funny and fantastically sexy! Her literal harem of discarded male lovers never seemed just comedic and helps to build a wonderful cast of secondary characters.
Writer, director and co-star Michael Angelo Covino delivers a truly and fantastically funny and chaotic comedy about modern relationships, he doesn't take the lead role, that falls to Kyle Marvin, but he does take perhaps the funniest, Paul, who proudly claims that his marriage to Julie is an 'open one', and that both partners are free to take lovers if and when they choose. Trouble is that when he finds out his best friend, Carey has slept with his wife he loses control and the proceeding fight almost destroys his fabulous lake side house. But that's just the beginning, thrown into the mix is Carey who has an unexpected and unusual solution to his wife leaving him, he moves back home and befriends her multiple lovers inviting them to move in with them.
And even that much information isn't spoiling the film, this really was genuinely funny with a great cast. I gotta say that I've always thought that Dakota Johnson wasn't any good, I thought she was downright atrocious in Madame Web but here she absolutely shines, she's the brilliant centre of this film around all the other cast seem to gravitate to, perhaps because she's the only grown-up in this group. But kudos to the rest of the cast too, Adria Arjona as the life coach who keeps trying to read her breakup letter to Carey, editing it as she goes along is both funny and fantastically sexy! Her literal harem of discarded male lovers never seemed just comedic and helps to build a wonderful cast of secondary characters.
This is a good looking film, nicely shot and edited with a sequence of such expert skill in editing and blocking it deserves an Oscar in its own right. It's a 360 degree moving montage throughout Carey and Ashley's duplex apartment showing the passage of time where characters walk in an out of the shot as the camera moves continues to travel, clothes are changed, new characters introduced and all seemingly shot in one take!
I haven't laughed this much at a modern comedy in an absolute age and it's great to see such an adult comedy that doesn't preach or try and teach lessons. I've never a fan of Judd Apatow's auteur, which is the nearest comparison, finding his films way too long and painfully unfunny. His characters are always super rich and their problems seem so far removed from anything approaching my own that I never engage with them, and there never seemed anything real about them or their problems. Whereas Splitsville is the exact opposite! Despite it also seeming to be populated by the super rich, this time round events and their actions change the status quo and their social standing making this feel far more real than the likes of This is 40, or this year's very unfunny and smug Is This Thing On?. Actually this feels much more like a Woody Allen film with added raunch.
A lot of times when a new comedy comes along you leave thinking that the trailer had been funnier, or shown the best parts. Not so this! The trailer perfectly hints at what's to come and for once doesn't give away the best bits. So, if you laughed or smiled at the trailer, chances are you're going to like this a lot!
See it while you can, it's a very funny and rude night out. For me, this is one of the best films of the year so far, and I think it might still be in the Top Ten come the end of it.
9/10
I haven't laughed this much at a modern comedy in an absolute age and it's great to see such an adult comedy that doesn't preach or try and teach lessons. I've never a fan of Judd Apatow's auteur, which is the nearest comparison, finding his films way too long and painfully unfunny. His characters are always super rich and their problems seem so far removed from anything approaching my own that I never engage with them, and there never seemed anything real about them or their problems. Whereas Splitsville is the exact opposite! Despite it also seeming to be populated by the super rich, this time round events and their actions change the status quo and their social standing making this feel far more real than the likes of This is 40, or this year's very unfunny and smug Is This Thing On?. Actually this feels much more like a Woody Allen film with added raunch.
A lot of times when a new comedy comes along you leave thinking that the trailer had been funnier, or shown the best parts. Not so this! The trailer perfectly hints at what's to come and for once doesn't give away the best bits. So, if you laughed or smiled at the trailer, chances are you're going to like this a lot!
See it while you can, it's a very funny and rude night out. For me, this is one of the best films of the year so far, and I think it might still be in the Top Ten come the end of it.
9/10
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