Amies malgré lui

3/23/18. Sasha (gay) and Paige (straight) are best buds and roommates. Paige meets Tim and they get serious. Sasha feels left out. Will they be able to stay best buds? This basic premise works well and the movie is enjoyable to watch.

Leighton Meester has never given a better performance. She is really, really good in Life Partners. Gillian Jacobs has never given a better performance. She is really, really good in Life Partners. They are funny, sweet, deep, lovely and have wondrous, effortless chemistry; you believe immediately that they are the best of friends. It works so well that I wish the film had been about their characters' relationship. You could call if Life Partners...

Unfortunately, while this film _is_ called Life Partners, that's not what it's about. It's about one huge fight and their personal lives and how much they suck at leading them. And for the most part it is terribly unfunny. From ten minutes in to one minute until the credits roll, these two are at odds with one another. From mild annoyance to a building sense of angst to complete avoidance, the film does everything it can to let you know in big neon letters that 'THERE BE PROBLEMS'. Paige is controlling, Sasha is coasting through life. Fine. We get it, movie. Except while most relationship comedies give you moments of reprieve where we remember why the two are such good friends and we get to laugh with them, Life Partners just keeps on flashing 'THERE BE PROBLEMS' every time it seems like a laugh is coming along.

The two spend the majority of their time on screen apart. Sasha, a lesbian pining for a better job and a better quality of girlfriend, spends most of her time at work as a desk jockey or with her lesbian friends (one of whom is Gabourey Sidibe, proving for the umpteenth time that she's more than just a teen running with chicken). Paige, meanwhile, goes through the film dealing with the fallout from a minor fender-bender and falling in love with her new boyfriend (Adam Brody, who has always been fantastic at playing Adam Brody and continues to be likable as Adam Brody). You see, Sasha and Paige are best friends, but because of Paige's new love life and Sasha's frustration at the loss of time with her friend 'THERE BE PROBLEMS,' so we barely get to see either woman smile.

The film runs its course with nary a twist or a turn and you wind up exactly where you'd expect, and while both women are truly delightful in their roles, damn if this story doesn't suck all of the life and joy from the predictable proceedings. I'm also very frustrated that a comedic talent as awesome as Julie White has been relegated to playing the wacky mom for the last ten years, but she is still very entertaining as Paige's wacky mom.

Given the stellar performances from its leads, I really wanted to love this film. I just can't. It's never dull or stupid or mean, none of the awkward, cringe-worthy stuff gets drawn out beyond the point of respectability and the film looks good, with slick direction and cheerful settings. It's just not funny.

6/10. All six stars go to the performances of the leads. Everything else is horribly average.

This theme is certainly nothing new, it's one of the most overdone, well, ever. But the film still manages to entertain, it's certainly easy going enough and pretty easy to watch. The chemistry between the actors works, and both of the leads make their characters fascinating enough. The film has some screenplay issues, some scenes here and there that just don't work well enough and that are cringe-worthy, so much so that I can't call this a great film no matter how easy it is to see. Some plot lines are also resolved a little too neatly and conveniently (Gillian Jacobs' character in the end). Still, despite several flaws, it manages to work.

This is not "12 angry men" or "Citizen Kane". But it is very good in its own genre. That's why I'm giving it an 8. It's a feel-good movie that does not pretend anything else and that's the reason why it works. There's a chemistry between all the characters and even the small role played by Beth Dover makes you laugh. I guess it depends on how old you are and how seriously you take yourself in order to enjoy something like this where Sasha and Paige are going through some changes in their lives and how society expects them to be. The ending is a little hasty though. All and all, I prefer that than having something like "Divergent" lasting more than 2 hours just because as if the story were far too complicated.

Paige and Sasha are not-quite-thirty best friends, sleep in the same bed comparing boob bumps BFFs - and things are about to get disrupted in Life Partners.

Life Partners is an easy enough film to watch and pretty straightforward – but it is not: for older people or most of the male audience.

Paige and Sasha, Gillian Jacobs and Leighton Meester respectively, are pretty basic as personality types – they like brunch and America's Next Top Model. Paige is a lawyer who is practically allergic to admitting she is wrong. Sasha is an underachieving lesbian. The friendship they have is sickening and just short of Mama-bird feeding tactics. When Paige goes on a date and seemingly meets a potential life partner, the friend dynamic shift causes major upheaval to Sasha and the longevity of their love.

That description is pretty sarcastic, I will admit, but there is not much to Life Partners that warrants describing. The characters are simple, the plot is simple and the conflict and ultimate resolution are simple as well. Simple does not have to mean 'bad' though – and Life Partners is a rather fun film that definitely falls in the Chick Flick category. Not surprisingly, it is directed by a female (Susanna Fogel) and there is a nice melody of female comedians and actresses in this female driven film.

Millennials will agree with the co-dependent friend dynamic in Life Partners, but in being so niched out to late twenty-something females, it loses out by not reaching to a broader audience.

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