Pretty Problems

Had NO idea what to expect when I tuned into this movie. It didn't take long before I was finding myself impressed by this movie. A story about class distinctions, and about happiness,

I was intrigued right off the bat by the two main protagonists, Lindsey and Jack. A married couple seemingly washing up on the rocky shores of boredom and perhaps dissatisfaction with their relationship - and their lives.

When an unusual woman enters the store where Lindsey works, things take a turn. An unusual friendship is struck up, and Lindsey and Jack are unexpectedly invited to a weekend in the country, where they find themselves the guests of some very rich people.

The screenplay, written by Britt Rentschler and Michael Tennant, who star in the movie, is terrific. No wasted words. Everything helps to move and communicate the story. It's entertaining, and engrossing. The surreptitious looks between the protagonists also communicates to us, the viewers, their discomfiture and embarrassment. And their comfort with each other.

Things only get more complicated as the weekend away progresses, with situations that astound and fascinate Jack and Lindsey, but only serve to increase their own sense of inadequacy.

The predicaments are uncomfortable, but they're also funny. Some are VERY funny. The roles of Jumping Jack (Michael Tennant) and Lindsey (Britt Rentschler) are SO terrifically well played, pulling off just about every scene with understated finesse and terrific comedic timing.

The weekend just gets odder and stranger as these two string along in the swirl of a very monied milieu. And while the people seems impossibly strange, it's all somehow very plausible, and it works. As the film careens along, dormant fault lines crack open between Jack and Lindsey, and they seem to get further apart.

Too far apart to stay together? There's a lesson to take away from this weekend away. Very much worth the watch to find out!

Ripe with potential gushy gush, let's cut to the cheese: Pretty Problems seizes the class differentiation and marital sneeze smorgasbord with its clusters of dry jammy juicy and spicy.

Written, directed and acted with giggly panache, there was one ironic characteristic about Pretty Problems I'm not sure I could say about any other movie: Thank God I watched it streaming on a laptop, in bed next to my wife who had already seen it. Because I was laughing so hard and so often it would have ruined a theater screening unless it was a laughter yoga crowd.

The rewind 10 seconds button had a record setting number of punches, after the cheek wipes and OMG fits had subsided.

Just binged The White Lotus and it would make a fine pairing for this deliciously persnickety weekend of what happens when the posh pool and the couple poo collide in Sonoma's wine country.

Congrats - so bright and pink!

Movie location - three/four/five years ago, this region had weird wildfires that burned wineries and took out hundreds of houses. It is great this film captures the beauty that remained and is regaining in Sonoma County California.

The actresses are fun to watch on screen - they are entertaining as flappers. The plot has a little tension, as a viewer considers what will culminate from the plot swings one might anticipate. But what a viewer might expect at the coming climax is creatively passed on to an elegant simple conclusion.

The conversations are garish examples of some of the chat that - on occasion - can actually occur in Sonoma / Napa. So the parody was kinda entertaining. The lead "Jack" is well played by the show runner.

Pretty, weird, funny, beautiful farce - spin up with skill and levity. So happy to have encountered this film.

I get that this movie won't necessarily resonate with everyone but it hit nearly every single button with me. Pretty Problems is about average, struggling student-debt-saddled Millennials growing older, and feeling lost this is about expecting romantic relationships or sex or money to make you happy, this is exactly what rich LA people are like - I mean the person who wrote this film clearly had some kind of experience (as I did) of being poor or middle class in LA but crossing over in worlds randomly with the ultra-wealthy.

I read some sociology thing one time about how this phenomenon is unique to Los Angeles as a city, compared to other US cities, maybe to all the cities in the world. There aren't any really tight or strong class barriers. It is possible to go away for a weekend at a wine tasting or yoga retreat and there will be celebrities or multi-millionaires mixed in the group. I feel like even some upper middle class people in Los Angeles act this way, though in Pretty Problems they are literally billionaires who can afford anything (including an entire brewery distributor).

I laughed out loud so, so many times during this movie and there are so many memorable one liners. There's even a reference to the Hotel (LA) season of American Horror Story "Bolivian marching powder" in the first 20-30 minutes. I'm still amused by the fact that Milton apparently does not actually exist.

I love a movie that relies on snappy dialogue and underlying relationship themes. I don't need big explosions or wild plot points to keep me engaged, so you may not agree with my take -- but watching humans do what humans do -- and dressing it up like a theme party (you know humans love a theme party) is what I'm here for. This is like your social media feed in real life, come to life on the screen -- the average joe gets beamed into these ridiculous lifestyles that are touted online. And I can see myself right in it. We hate "them"... and yet we want to be "them" -- this movie nailed it. The performances were excellent and I wish I saw more of these actors around, instead of the same faces. Simply put, this is a great hang. I laughed, and then I wanted to hug my partner after. Simple, delicious. It's not going to save the world, but it definitely gave me a great night at the movies. And it's one that I can see myself watching again for another great hang. Low key and easy, very fun.