COMIC DRAMA; 1hr 32min
STARRING: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg
Not-so-odd couple: Samberg and Jones
Marital break-ups usually work something like this: tears and trauma, post-mortems, move on. But not with Celeste (Jones) and Jesse (Samberg). Friends since high school yet total opposites, they’re about to divorce but live next door to each other and hang out constantly. They’re clearly a career wavelength bust as a couple — she’s a high-achieving, trend-forecasting, author-slash-businesswoman; he’s a genial slacker with one eye on the surf and no job to speak of. So how come they’re still semi-together? Can they break free and hold onto their connection? Should they break free in the first place? And how will Celeste, so fully in control-freak denial, adjust when the parameters crash and burn?
Jones, who co-wrote the Lee Toland Krieger–directed screenplay with ex-boyfriend Will McCormack, has a warmly generous energy and knows how to showcase it: the writing hums with savvy observations and tonal snakes and ladders. She and McCormack absolutely get that even the strongest relationships can be ambiguous and unruly, and that the painless ending of them is one riddle few people ever figure out.
