Movie Review - Sleeping with Other People

Sleeping with Other People ** (out of 5) (R) (Semi-spoiler alert) The only “reality” inherent in most romantic comedies is the fact that the poster tells you who will wind up with whom long before you reach the ticket window. The difference between hits and flops usually turns on the chemistry of the stars, and how amusingly and relatably they reach that inevitable warm and fuzzy finale everyone else knew was coming. When you’re 90% certain about the destination, it’s all about the journey, Grasshopper.

Writer/director Leslye Headland has a few of these notches in her belt (About Last Night, Bachelorette, Assistance), which have been mediocre films with attractive casts of familiar TV and movie actors (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Krysten Ritter, Adam Scott, James Marsden, among many others). In this case, after a brief college fling, Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie pursue quantity over quality in their dating choices, driven by various commitment phobias. He boinks everyone he can; she goes for the emotionally unavailable. When they turn up at the same meeting a few years later, they decide a purely platonic course might be therapeutic for both.

The plot drags on too long (140 minutes) for the material, with dialog that’s sporadically witty, but excessive for the substance, if you’re ever seen one of these films before. Insights come too slowly for characters as smart as these two in all other respects, requiring a truly far-fetched trigger for the “aha moment” that finally drags them and us to the finish line. Headland’s writing does include enough wit to keep drawing high-profile performers, and dangle promise of better complete packages to come. She’s just not there yet. Fingers are crossed here. The kid could still be a contendah. (10/2/15)