Drinking Buddies - Amici di bevuta

I really wanted to like the movie, because it was supposed to be something about real human relationships, not some fairy tale. And it was, and it was boring as hell. Basically the sole strength of the film, if not its entire premise, is the romantic tension between the main character, interpreted by Olivia Wilde, and her colleague at a beer factory. They are friends, but are they only that? You spend one hour and a half to find out.

The highlight of the film, for me, was the double date trip. There we see how people who paired up for romantic relationships get to have more fun and feel more connected to people from other couples. I think it is the most honest moment of the film, I've been there and it feels so weird to pit instant and exciting connection with a stranger against the meaningful but tired relationship with your significant other. The comparison is impossible to make.

Even if this film feels indie in script, acting and budget, one can still be surprised by the cast. Not only Olivia Wilde, but also Ron Livingston, Anna Hendrick and Jason Sudeikis are playing. So for such a cast I had better expectations than what I was served. I really wished the drinking in the title would be something meaningful, not just that a quarter of the film is about people drinking in the same room.

Bottom line: it was a raw, realistic film about human relationships. A "life movie" how my mother would call it. It was not too pretentious and overall was well done and acted. The problem is that it doesn't bring much to the table and ended up to be extremely boring to me. Also, 13 doesn't look as good naked as I had expected ;)

About 30 minutes into this film, after a long time of thinking there was something peculiar about it that made it not really work, it occurred to me what was wrong. So I jumped on IMDb and confirmed my suspicion: all the dialogue here is improvised. Yeah, that doesn't often work, and it certainly doesn't here. It all felt slightly unnatural and uncomfortable, and it didn't seem to be going anywhere. Even if it had been scripted, the story (the basic story was known when the actors and directors started making it) is extremely slight. It might have been good enough, though, since the actors here are enjoyable. Jake Johnson (who kills on the Fox sitcom New Girl) plays a worker in a beer factory who is best friends with receptionist Olivia Wilde. Both are involved, he, quite seriously, with Anna Kendrick and she, not very seriously, with Ron Livingston. The four of them go on a trip to Livingston's cabin one weekend, and everything becomes awkward when Livingston steals a kiss from Kendrick when the two go on a nature hike together. This is hardly torture, but it's very forgettable.

I saw this movie at the Indianapolis International Film Festival and it exceeded my expectations, partially because of the negative review beside this one.

The plot of Drinking Buddies is simple: two close co-workers - both already in relationships - struggle with their feelings toward one another. This is a relatable concept for many of us, and those of us who have been in this situation understand just how complicated it can get.

The other reviewer claims that "nothing happens between the main characters," and I would argue that point. Lots of things happen between the main characters and what these things most close resemble is real life. This film is thoughtful, funny, heartbreaking and totally charming.

It's official: watching a bunch of twenty-somethings figure out who they want to date is boring.

"Drinking Buddies" is about two couples who kind of wish each of them were free to hook up with the opposite-gendered member of the OTHER couple but who don't do anything about it. There are many scenes of some combination of these four people drinking copious amounts of beer and talking about nothing that's at all significant. This might recreate the actual experience of going out to bars and staying there long after all of the exciting people have gone home, but it makes for tedious and unengaging dramatic material. I would be tempted to shrug the film off as a total loss, but the final few scenes finally deliver something interesting in the way of writing and acting, so the film's not a complete wash.

Olivia Wilde is the main protagonist, and she's basically a male fantasy come true -- in other words, a dude who just happens to have a vagina. Anna Kendrick is the boring girl who wants her boyfriend to propose to her, and she looks just about as bored to be in the movie as we are by her character.

The film was of particular interest to me because it takes place in Chicago (where I live), but it could have been filmed in any city that has nondescript apartments.

Though I'm not THAT much older (38) than these characters are supposed to be, I felt watching this movie like I might as well have been born in the 1950s. You know you're a parent when you want to tell all the characters to drink some water and eat a vegetable.

Grade: C

Drinking Buddies (2013)

** (out of 4)

Best friends Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) spend all their time at work together and they often go out drinking afterwards. This is fine even though both are involved with other people but soon when the four go on a weekend trip things get a tad bit more complicated. Director Joe Swanberg's latest film is one I really wanted to watch but as the film went along I couldn't help but start to dislike all of the characters more and more. Whenever you're watching a film like this it's important that you can enjoy spending time with the characters because for 90-minutes you're basically just watching them get drunk and talk. In fact, there's a lot of talking in this movie and I didn't find a single line of it all that interested. There are many reasons for this but one of the biggest is that the film is pretty predictable right down to the final scene, which I must admit made me laugh because of how obvious it was. Another problem is like I said, the characters are all just so boring and uninteresting that you really don't care about what they're feeling, thinking or doing. This is especially true for the Kate character who never really makes too much sense and I'd say the Luke character is just as dumb. I'm really not sure what type of point or message the director was trying to make with these characters but they just come across as rather idiotic and lifeless. The performances are the one thing that helps keep the film interesting. Wilde is always good no matter what she's doing. Johnson was believable in his part. Anna Kendrick was good in the role of the girlfriend but the screenplay certainly did her character no favors. Ron Livingston played the boyfriend and again, the screenplay didn't do much for him. DRINKING BUDDIES will probably find a cult crowd out there who connects with these people but I'd recommend going out drinking with your own buddies instead of watching this.