Monday, September 27, 2021

Delayed Reaction: Someone Great

Premise: Three friends in NYC have one last hurrah before one - who also just broke up with her long-time boyfriend - moves to San Francisco the next week.

 


It turns out, this movie rules. I remember Netflix pushing it when it first came out in 2019. I liked the cast, including Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow, and LaKeith Stanfield. I think I worried that it was more of a doomed romance movie than a hang-out comedy. It turns out, this is a hell of a fun hang.

 

There's nothing in this movie you haven't seen before, but if the idea of following Rodriguez, Snow, and DeWanda Wise on a series of misadventures sounds fun to you, I can assure you it is. This has a lot of Ferris Bueller or Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist vibes where it feels like there are too many hours in this day. I'm not sure I understand how anyone makes money in this movie. It's best just to assume that everyone one just happened to have the same day off. Who knows, maybe it actually is the weekend. Writer/Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's other credits make a ton of sense (showrunner/creator of Sweet/Vicious, writer of Unpregnant, director of an episode of Love Life). Her sweet spots seem to be female relationships, New York City, and/or odysseys. Those are the exact elements of this movie.

 

It sucked me in right away with that that odd exchange between Rodriguez and Michelle Buteau as a stranger at a subway stop. Then it continues with all these lived-in scenes between best friends. I believe that Rodriguez, Snow, and Wise's characters have a ton of history. While a lot of silly stuff happens in the movie, it doesn't lean that heavily on contrivance. I love when Snow and her boyfriend (Alex Moffat) break up. It's complication-free, because the movie realizes that no one actually cares. Stuff like that happens a lot.

 

Look, I won't turn down scenes with Rodriguez and Stanfield playing a couple, but I didn't really need that. If anything, it just made me sad that Stanfield wasn't in more of the movie. They could've cast someone half as familiar, taken out most of the flashbacks, replaced them with more shenanigans, and had just as good of a movie. It's hard to complain though, since so much worked.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend

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