Year:  2023

Director:  Dave Franco

Release:  February 10, 2023

Distributor: Prime Video

Running time: 103 minutes

Worth: $9.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Alison Brie, Danny Pudi, Jay Ellis, Kiersey Clemons, Haley Joel Osment

Intro:
… the story treads too-familiar ground, its saving grace being a charismatic cast and knowing the value of a well-placed Third Eye Blind riff.

Following the cancellation of her show, reality TV showrunner Ally (Alison Brie) returns home for the first time in years, where she discovers that while she was off in L.A. compromising on her dreams of being a documentary maker, life in Leavenworth went on just fine without her. Her mother is (publicly and enthusiastically) dating her old high school teacher, her favourite bar has been remodelled, and her ex-boyfriend Sean (Jay Ellis) is about to get married. After a night on the town reconnecting with Sean and remembering the good old days, Ally finds herself re-thinking not only her own life choices, but Sean’s as well, and schemes her way into a second chance, in a move worthy of her reality TV roots.

This marks director Dave Franco and star Alison Brie’s fourth project together. The husband-and-wife team also co-wrote the script, a fact that becomes obvious as more of Alison Brie’s real-life idiosyncrasies (e.g. freestyle rapping) bleed over into her character. It’s these personal touches that are so clearly written with love, that save Ally from becoming entirely obnoxious and unlikable as we watch her machinations progress.

As an interloper who broke Sean’s heart years ago, only to show up the day before his wedding to try to throw a spanner into the works, Ally is already pushing the limits of protagonists we want to root for. In a genius casting choice, Brie’s Community co-star Danny Pudi takes on the role of Benny, Sean’s best friend. Brie and Pudi’s well-cultivated chemistry and easy dynamic brings a magnetism to their scenes together, which helps remind viewers that despite the borderline insufferable choices Ally insists on making, she’s human underneath it all.

The plot is contrived, following in the footsteps of Young Adult and My Best Friend’s Wedding so closely that the latter even warrants a name drop in the film itself. There’s some unfulfilled potential in the dynamic between Ally and Sean’s fiancée Cassidy (Kiersey Clemons) that could have led to an interesting twist on tired tropes, but all in all, the story treads too-familiar ground, its saving grace being a charismatic cast and knowing the value of a well-placed Third Eye Blind riff.

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