Summer of Netflix Day 9 - They Came Together

It's a comedy? It's a rom-com spoof? Who knows! Alex, Joel and Chris try to review this super weird movie!

Alexa's Thoughts: David Wain has made some films I’ve really loved (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models) and really didn’t (Wanderlust), and They Came Together falls somewhere in between. Wain and writing partner Michael Showalter proved they can effectively balance clever comedy and complete absurdity with Wet Hot American Summer, but try as they might, They Came Together never quite reaches that level.

On paper, I should love this film. It ridicules romantic comedies (she’s a small business owner, he works for a major corporation; they hate each other then love each other), anchored by the always-charming Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd. The erstwhile Leslie Knope and Bobby Newport have great chemistry and are clearly having fun, but the parody’s execution falls flat.

Rather than trusting the audience to be smart enough to understand its lampooning of romantic comedy tropes, the film’s characters constantly spell out everything for you, like Poehler and Rudd telling their friends that she’s endearingly clumsy and he’s handsome in a non-threatening way, or that New York is like another character in the story. The script constantly calls for characters to explain why you should find the jokes funny rather than just letting the jokes play out.

The film’s saving grace is its stellar cast, which in addition to Poehler and Rudd includes Bill Hader, Ellie Kemper, Ed Helms, Cobie Smulders, Michael Ian Black, Jason Mantzoukas, Christopher Meloni, Max Greenfield and Melanie Lynskey, among other familiar faces. It’s entertaining to see these talented players interact, and the movie does have a decent share of laughs. But from this team, I expected a more clever and original satire.

Joel's Thoughts: This movie came so close to being good. So close. I almost want to give it a pass just because of how close it was and how desperately we need good parody movies with Mel Brooks having pretty much retired at this point and the fact that Friedberg and Seltzer are still releasing a terrible movie every year. I want to say it’s a good movie but at the end of the day it really isn’t. It’s like the movie isn’t comfortable enough in the fact that it’s a parody. Rather than just take the absurd tropes of romantic comedies and cranking up to eleven, the movie keeps having to stop to make sure we know exactly what it’s doing and why that is funny. Its a great cast, and I’ve seen everybody in the movie be funny in other movies. And it’s not that this movie is unfunny. There are several parts of the movie that are quite funny. But not enough to sit through the parts that aren’t. We are left, still waiting for a successor to Mel Brooks and the Zucker Brothers.

Chris' Thoughts: It’s a spoof rom-com movie that doesn’t necessarily dips into the absurdity of the Scary Movie level of spoof absurdity but it gets pretty close. I will give it credit for accurately pointing out the absurdity some of the rom-com staples are.

I’m honestly a bit unsure about how I feel about this movie. I appreciate the point it’s trying to make but at the same time, I didn’t exactly enjoy the movie. I know that last sentence makes very little sense.

Your Viewing Homework for Tomorrow: Hot Rod