SPLITSVILLE
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Kyle Marvin, Michael Angelo Covino, Nicholas Braun, David Castañeda, O-T Fagbenle, Charlie Gillespie, and Simon Webster
Director: Michael Angelo Covino
ADRIANO
Between The Climb and now Splitsville, co-writers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin continue to prove they are confident humanistic comedy filmmakers. With Splitsville, while Covino's direction is chaotic in every frame, he fills the film with impressive and intricate long takes where everything that comes together feels precise and hilarious. The performances from Covino, Marvin, Dakota Johnson, and Adria Arjona are amazing, but I don't know if the emotional punch down on the hypocrisy of open relationships hit how it was intended. Still, I think Splitsville is simultaneously grounded and absurd, which leads to a lot of big laughs.
QUENTIN
Splitsville is not without moments of humor, but it’s more chuckle comedy than laugh-out-loud comedy, which is odd because it’s such an absurdist farce. Each progressive plot point and escalating development is more and more unrealistic, to the point that I started rolling my eyes at the predictable situations more than chuckling at them. That doesn’t make it a bad movie, as Splitsville would be a good, lighthearted date movie given its charming performances and interesting ideas on modern relationships; however, for better or worse, it’s all a bit too silly and rooted in an unbelievable reality that will leave you thinking “people don’t behave this way.”
