Monday, January 11, 2016

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE


SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE is a romantic comedy from first time director Leslye Headland. She also wrote the piss-poor rom-com ABOUT LAST NIGHT but seems to have done far better when not shackled with the pressure of adapting David Mamet. That said, this movie definitely drinks deep from the well of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and has all the basic cultural conservatism of all those so-called transgressive Judd Apatow comedies that basically end up with the romantic leads, well, getting together in wedded bliss. 


Anyways, the movie stars Jason Sudeikis (WE'RE THE MILLERS) as Jake and Aison Brie (MAD MEN) as Lainey.  They lose their virginity to each other in a meet cute at college in the prologue after which we fast forward ten years to their current lives as messed-up adults.  Lainey is all sensible and grown up and dating Sam (Adam Brody - THE OC) until she admits that she's been cheating on him with this guy, Matthew, that she's been obsessed with since college.  Meanwhile Jake is a commitment phobe. They both end up in a sex and love addicts class, which is a bit odd because my limited knowledge of that addiction is that it's far more serious than just not getting over a guy you thought you were in love with in college or the girl you lost your v-card too. But anyways, let's go with it. 

And I think that's what this film seriously needs you to do. The conceit is preposterous.  Men and women don't meet and hang out like this outside the narrow confines of Norah Ephron comedies.  This isn't real life.  But it very funny.  The two leads are genuinely convincing as two people who speak honestly and very wittily about modern dating and the movie passed by in a funny flash.  So, basically this is an unrealistic and derivative movie that's redeemed by the comedic chops of the script and actors. Worthwhile but ultimately disposable.

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE has a running time of 101 minutes and is rated R.  The movie played Sundance, Tribeca and many other festivals in 2015 before being released in Belgium, Brazil, France, Hungary, the USA, Greece, Israel, Estonia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Portugal, Canada, Poland, South Korea and the Netherlands. The movie is currently on release in the UK. 

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