Review of They Came Together (2014) by Anastasia R — 12 Jan 2016

I really loved this entire send-up of the romantic-comedy. There really isn't a film like this one out there, other than this one.

The film lurches forward at this kind of breakneck pace to cram in jokes and references and almost meta-humor where you feel like the characters are in on it and talking about the form, but then we dive back into their ridiculous characterization over the course of Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd's push-pull romance. This is all framed quite nicely by their dinner date with Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper (both have fantastic little asides).

The drawback is the kind of tiring fatigue the story gets by servicing the tropes over and over, kind of similar to Airplane! but without the really deadpan anchor that Leslie Nielsen provides in that movie. Everyone in this is like a cartoon character and so when it never really comes back down to the ground, it's like you're not watching real people and the jokes just don't hit as hard over the course of the film.

Generally, though, a great cast all assembled with some really hilarious writing and plotting that makes for a fun night-in watch (this puppy's on Netflix).