Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Brittany Snow
Starring: Courtney Eaton, Thomas Mann, Joel McHale, Gina
Rodriguez, Dave Bautista, Scott Mescudi, Francesca Reale
Working alongside co-writer Becca Gleason, actress
Brittany Snow makes a remarkably fluid transition to writing and
directing with her feature debut Parachute. With Snow best known for comic roles, you might expect
Parachute to play its will-they-won't-they romance for
laughs, but while there are moments of black humour, this is largely a
straight drama, one with protagonists who feel real in their
messiness.
Set over a couple of years, the film begins with twentysomething Riley
(Courtney Eaton) getting out of a rehab clinic where she was
treated for an eating disorder caused by body dysmorphia. Given access
to her phone for the first time in months, Riley immediately sets about
torturing herself by scrolling through Instagram images of women with
"perfect" bodies.
As part of her recovery plan, Riley must engage with a therapist (Gina Rodriguez) and avoid entering any romantic relationships for at least a year.
Riley bluffs her way through therapy sessions, but the second commitment
isn't so easy when she meets Ethan (Thomas Mann) at a bar on the
first night of her release. Taking Ethan back to the enviable New York
loft bequeathed by her absent and seemingly uncaring mother, Riley
immediately panics at the thought of Ethan seeing her naked body and all
her perceived imperfections. Ethan says he's fine with just hanging out
and commits himself to the long game of remaining platonic friends with
Riley until she's ready to enter a relationship.
Of course, there are bumps along the way. Riley's rehab seems to have
had no positive effects. She still obsesses over her body, tugging at
every fold of flaccid flesh she can find and continually compares
herself to photoshopped images of skinny models. She constantly raids
fridges for food she knows will make her feel worse about herself once
the plate has been cleaned. Ethan does his best to help, but while he
means well his presence only enables Riley's worst tendencies. He's the
parachute of the title, allowing Riley to take dangerous leaps because
she knows he'll be there to soften her landing. Ethan has a similar
relationship with his alcoholic father (Joel McHale), always
there to drive him home when his benders get too out of hand.
What makes Parachute stand out from similar narratives is
that rather than posing the question of whether two people who clearly
love one another will get together, it asks whether they should get
together. As the narrative progresses and Ethan's support leads Riley to
become increasingly narcissistic, even rubbing poor Ethan's face in it
by dating an absolute douchebag work colleague, we're forced to accept
that Ethan needs to cut the strings, that Riley can only move forward if
she experiences a harsh landing. But Riley and Ethan are so adorable
together that it's a struggle for the audience to come around to
accepting this notion. The film puts us in the position of a kid forced
to put their first pet to sleep.
This is down to how relatable Eaton and Mann make their characters of
Riley and Ethan. Despite being a former model who looks like a young Meg
Tilly, Eaton never comes off as a fraud, fully convincing as someone who
is objectively very attractive by any metric but just can't see it
herself. Ironically it's her very attractiveness that allows her to
indulge in narcissism, as someone less appealing would be called out
immediately for their behaviour. Mann is an actor who has never stood
out for me before, but there's something about his everyman drabness
that makes him the ideal choice for this role. Ethan pleads with Riley
to see the beautiful woman he sees, but the sad truth is that he
probably wouldn't stand a chance of dating Riley if she didn't have such
low self-esteem.
Riley and Ethan's relationship is so messy and chaotic that even by the
end of the film we're still not sure if they should be together. What is
clear is that we want them to be together in an ideal world. They might
be messy but they're both victims of circumstance and chemistry; but to
love one another they'll both need to learn to love themselves.
