When Ashley asks for a divorce, the good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. Their secret to happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.
What We Thought:
There are parts of Splitsville that are laugh out loud funny. There are parts that are completely unbelievable. I will give writers/co-stars Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin credit for getting Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona as their significant others though.
That’s probably the most unbelievable part, that these two men could be married to these two women. No offense to either guy, but even one of them in the movie says he never felt worthy enough of his wife. Neither guy is ugly, but neither is classically handsome either. Both women are two of Hollywood’s “It” girls though. Johnson has been around for a while and Arjona has made a name for herself recently in Hit Man, Blink Twice, Andor and more. Both are beautiful and talented so bravo to the guys for getting them in their film.
There are a lot of positives in the film. First, the fight in the house between the two guys is fantastic. It’s laughable and an honest look at how two friends would actually fight each other. They throw stuff, smash things and want to hurt yet not stab each other. I genuinely laughed at it. I also felt that the movie was pretty honest and authentic. Every character feels real and vulnerable. Their decisions seem reasonable for the situations. I’m curious to see what these guys do next.
The biggest negative is that it wanders too much. The second act and third act take too long especially the second. Once the splits happen, too much time is spent on supporting characters that ultimately mean nothing to the dynamic of the four leads. The legal trouble issue with the one character takes forever as well as does the build up to the conclusion of what will happen with these four people. Somewhere in the movie is a great, focused film, but it loses steam in one or two parts. It needs a trim and more focus because it feels at times that it’s about these two guys in real life thinking their movie needed more when it actually needed less.
Splitsville will be a movie some people have on their top ten list for 2025. It’s also a movie others will hate completely. I’m sort of in the middle. The stuff I like I really like. The stuff I don’t like I wish was cut. Johnson and Arjona do their best to hold it all together, I just wish it was tightened up and more focused. Maybe someone outside of the two writers could have trimmed it up.
The Nerds Templar 