Directed by: Lynn Shelton
Starring: Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt
Blunt sends Duplass off to her family's island cabin to contemplate his life. There he meets her lesbian sister and ends up drunkenly bedding her.
Early on this seems to make the offensive suggestion that a lesbian is willing to turn straight for a fumble if she's plied with enough drink. A plot twist later shows this thankfully isn't the view of the film-maker but by that point several audience members had walked out in mistaken disgust. The uneducated right wing belief that homosexuals aren't born that way and just need to meet the right straight person is all too common in American cinema. 2010's incredibly homophobic "The Kids Are Alright" was even nominated for an Oscar. By holding back information for the purpose of a plot twist, Shelton has unintentionally alienated a large part of her audience and a demographic she obviously supports.
This is very much a "first world problems" type storyline. Duplass and Blunt are in love with each other but fear it won't be reciprocated if they reveal their true feelings. Now I can understand the schlubby Duplass keeping quiet as his life is a train wreck and he seems quite unlikable. Blunt on the other hand is harder to swallow. Would a girl with her looks fall for such a loser in the first place? Surely she can't think there's any chance he might reject her? If there was any doubt over Blunt's acting chops this performance dispels them, she's certainly a lot more than just a pretty face. I believe she's the most charismatic actress of her generation. I've seen her in three poor films this year and she's enlivened them all with her natural charm.
Halfway through, the plot twist I alluded to plunges the film into what in reality would be a very dark place. DeWitt is found to have committed an act that wouldn't be out of place in a psychological thriller. How does Shelton deal with this dark turn of events? She doesn't. Instead she pawns it off with a montage of characters crying in their beds and throwing stones into rivers. The characters resolve their problem far too easily to be any way believable. An ambiguous ending is supposed to make the viewer draw their own conclusion but the whole situation is so ridiculous by that point it's hard to care.
5/10