ROMANTIC COMEDY; 1hr 38min
STARRING: George MacKay, Alexandra Roach
How (not) to: MacKay and Roach
Ryan (1917 ’s MacKay) and Laura (Roach) meet cute-ish in a UK bar, click like a dream from the off, then make the cardinal mistake of arranging to meet again for drinks at his blokey abode. What unfolds—or unravels, to be closer to the mark—is quite possibly the most excruciating drinks in the entire global history of social drinking. We in the cheap seats are still keen for them to give things a go all the same, partly because their first, boozy night went swimmingly, but mostly because they’re so fresh-faced and real, with bossy, smarty-pants friends (to whom panicked phone calls are not helping) and sketchy romantic histories that have burned them both.
Gawky, geeky and gauche are three g’s that are never a good look, and given the ineptness of every move he and she (but especially he) make, the odds of success aren’t crash-hot. By the time the clueless twosome does attempt to get it together, abstinence has never seemed so attractive.
But wouldn’t you know: it’s only when Ryan and Laura hit rock bottom that they can begin their slow climb back. Also that it speaks volumes for MacKay and Roach’s whole-grained pulling power—nicely nailed in director Rachel Hirons’s snappy screenplay—that said climb is worth sharing. Who isn’t a sucker for some sunshine after rain? These two outliers deserve each other in the sweetest possible way.
