Review of Drinking Buddies (2013) by Rhynal R — 09 Feb 2014

Drinking buddies is a decent movie with so much potential but never quite hits its mark. The pacing is incredibly slow, making it a movie that's not for everyone, and the story doesn't really go anywhere.

By the time the curtains close, you won't feel any resolution or character development, which is disappointing as there are so many times the movie has a chance to display it, or even encourage it.

In retrospect, maybe that's what the director intended. It's a comedy but its about the flaws and immaturity of human interaction in situations and how beer blurs the line between friendship and relationship.

So maybe just like in real life, when nothing could become of a certain situation, the movie replicates this scenario. If this were the case, normally I'd be okay, but with great performances by Johnson and Wilde, they play their characters so well that you hope for more out of the movie.

Secondary characters are also never fully developed, and while understandable, you'd think that the movie would allow for the two main characters to be. The humour is...decent at best. But there are no big jokes or funny scenes; its usually Johnson's good chemistry with Wilde that is the comedy, and strangely his beard too.

They term this type of comedy 'observational comedy' and again, its not for everyone. With good performances but disappointing story and resolution with no real character development, I wanted more out of Drinking buddies by the time the curtains fell.

6/10.