In ‘Splitsville,’ relationship anxieties are put to the comedic test

L-R Michael Angelo Covino Kyle Marvin Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson in Splitsville Photo courtesy of NEON Credit NEON There s a moment in Splitsville where after pantsing and subsequently injuring one of his classmates Russ Simon Webster is waiting on a bench outside of the principal s office with his dad Paul Michael Angelo Covino Ahead of the principal s inevitable interrogation Paul only has one piece of advice deny deny deny When Russ mother Julie Dakota Johnson shows up her advice is a little more refined but fairly similar Don t say anything she tells Russ Let the adults handle it But Carey Kyle Marvin Russ PE guide and a close friend of his parents although that s a little bit awkward now because Carey slept with Julie and Paul is living with Carey and Carey s estranged wife Ashely Adria Arjona because Julie kicked him out has certain other advice It ll be okay he assures Russ Just tell the truth Splitsville directed by Covino from a script he wrote with Marvin is about the very concept of honesty when to tell the truth and how taken to the extreme The advice that these three adults impart onto Russ in this moment is emblematic of their differing approaches to relationships and a microcosm of how those approaches have led them astray thus far Russ caught in the middle ends up expelled Covino and Marvin s sensibilities feel like a cross between Judd Apatow and Elaine May think a joke-a-minute extravaganza about a group of people who all feel a little bit like Charles Grodin s Lenny in The Heartbreak Kid Okay maybe they re not that terrible It s over the top but the comic anxiety in Splitsville stems from the very real insecurities that plague any -or- -something attempting to deal with romantic relationships What sets Splitsville apart from other movies about those insecurities is that it s not so much about the act of finding your person but rather what happens when you do It s not the fear of being alone that drives these characters to absolute lunacy but the fear of being honest with each other and with themselves Brutal honesty sets our story in motion When Ashley s attempt to give Carey a handjob on the way to Paul and Julie s vacation home ends in a fatal car accident the truth comes spilling out she has been unfaithful and she wants a divorce After quite an amusing credits sequence Carey seeks solace in Paul and Julie who offer him another nugget of truth They have an open marriage and it s the key to their healthy relationship That is until Carey s often too open and honest tendencies blow it all up Splitsville is a movie about people emerging up moving on and then eventually ending up right back where they started In that sense it s not about the characters learning new lessons but rather coming to conclusions about themselves that they already sort of knew That lack of forward momentum could have been a little dull but the thing about the Splitsville is that everyone is a little nuts so a dull moment there is not If everyone in this movie went to therapy none of this would have happened But then we wouldn t have Splitsville and that would be a real travesty The comedy in Splitsville stems from the fact that when it comes to how and when to be truthful nobody ever makes the right decision Unsurprisingly Julie and Paul s open relationship isn t nearly as healthy as they d like to pretend it is and it s also sort of non-existent It s unclear if before Carey either one of them ever took advantage of this ostensibly relationship-saving failsafe both too afraid of losing the other to tell them they don t really want it deny deny deny Carey s dilemma on the other hand is that he s a little bit too honest he straightaway tells Paul that he slept with Julie and latches onto Julie like an emotional help koala Carey s too nice too uncool too ready with a pun at any given moment at least that s how Ashley sees it But Ashley a slightly underutilized Arjona when she s on the screen she steals the show for as much as she s afraid of settling down and afraid of being boring isn t quite as cool as she d like to pretend The movie takes great pains to remind us multiple times that she and Carey met at a Fray concert As someone who once loved The Fray I can confidently say they are not cool As much as Splitsville is silly and clever it s also one of the best looking comedies to come around in quite specific time When Paul finds out about Carey and Julie s sexual interlude the two have an argument that devolves into a wrestling match That fight takes place within one still shot the fight choreography between the two actors taking center stage When the scrapping turns into an all out throwdown the camera follows Paul and Carey around the house as they crash into furniture urgent bones and set pieces in real time The brawl feels like exactly what it is a release of potency as the camera certainly starts to move capturing that feeling of utter chaos Splitsville is proof that comedies can be both funny and visually gripping Shot on mm by Adam Newport-Berra there s a beautiful sort of grain to Splitsville evoking the s far more than the s When Julie finds Carey and Paul post fight both battered and worse for wear the camera stays in closeup on all three actors as she lectures them When we definitively see the wide shot of where this serious conversation is taking place a formerly beautiful now mangled kitchen table it s a visual punchline set up through nothing but solid camera work Splitsville doesn t just use the camera for coverage but as a visual language for storytelling and bulk importantly jokes The post In Splitsville relationship anxieties are put to the comedic test appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta