Review: Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)

By Mel Valentin
August 3, 2012 Reviews No Comments

Cast: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Elijah Wood
Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Official Trailer: Here

There’s a moment in Celeste and Jesse Forever, anti-romantic comedy starring and co-written by Rashida Jones, when Jones’ character, Celeste, faces the proverbial moment of truth. Director Lee Toland Krieger (The Vicious Kind) frames a pensive, preoccupied Celeste from behind as she takes a drag from a cigarette outside a tent filled with partygoers. They’re celebrating a wedding; Celeste is mourning the end of her marriage to Jesse (Andy Samberg), a marriage that apparently crashed and burned on their unequal socio-economic status (she’s a successful, driven trend forecaster and company owner, he’s an unambitious artist-slacker). Everything in Celeste and Jesse Forever leads toward and away from that powerful, poignant image of Celeste at a nadir in her personal life. That Celeste and Jesse Forever follows that scene with a series of familiar romantic conventions and clichés can be forgiven on the strength of everything that precedes that particular scene.

Everything in Celeste and Jesse Forever leads toward and away from that powerful, poignant image of Celeste at a nadir in her personal life.

When we first meet Celeste and Jesse, they seem like a happily married couple. On the drive home, they share in-jokes, they push and prod each other verbally, but they also seem to know when to stop, when not to let a minor disagreement turn into a major argument. They may (or may not) be best friends forever, but their marriage is, for all intents and purposes, over. They’re six months into a pre-divorce separation that’s left the perpetually underemployed Jesse crashing in Celeste’s guesthouse. Their soon-to-be-married best friends, Beth (Ari Graynor) and Tucker (Eric Christian Olsen), find Celeste and Jesse’s living arrangement not only disconcerting, but quite possibly unnatural. They, like probably everyone in the audience, can’t believe Celeste and Jesse can remain friends.

That question, whether exes can remain friends, even when the dissolution of a romantic relationship isn’t one-sided, hangs over the first part of Celeste and Jesse Forever. We quickly learn, however, that Jesse still harbors romantic feelings for Celeste. Celeste doesn’t reciprocate, at least not until a minor complication turns major and Jesse exits her life. Jesse’s departure forces Celeste to reevaluate her personal life and the choices she’s made. Celeste goes on the proverbial path toward self-discovery and knowledge, attempting to suppress her maladjusted inner life with work, including a new pop-star client, Riley Evans (Emma Roberts), who seems to take her cues from Ke$ha, random dates, and the odd public humiliation that often ring painfully true.

Celeste and Jesse Forever slips into the occasional romantic comedy convention, especially when Celeste’s business partner and token gay best friend, Scott (Elijah Wood), makes an appearance.

Celeste and Jesse Forever slips into the occasional romantic comedy convention, especially when Celeste’s business partner and token gay best friend, Scott (Elijah Wood), makes an appearance. Celeste and Jesse Forever plays his awkward attempts to make raunchy small talk for laughs and, if you look hard enough, a modest tweak at the gay best friend character in romantic comedies, but the character feels superfluous. The inclusion of another male character, Paul (Chris Messina), gives Celeste another romantic option to Jesse. There too, however, Celeste and Jesse Forever skirts romantic comedy clichés. It’s only when Celeste and Jesse cross paths again that Celeste and Jesse Forever rises above conventions and clichés to uncover the character flaws

To Jones and her co-writer Will McCormack’s (he also co-stars as Celeste and Jesse’s sage-like weed dealer) credit, they don’t let Celeste turn or Jesse turn into caricatures. To Jones and co-writer Will McCormack’s (he also co-stars as Celeste and Jesse’s sage-like weed dealer) credit, they don’t let Celeste turn or Jesse turn into caricatures. While they poke a few jabs at Jesse’s new, vegan-oriented lifestyle, an outward sign apparently of Jesse’s desire to leave his arrested development behind for the adult world of personal accountability and responsibility, they’re careful not to let Jesse turn into a one-dimensional villain (or a two-dimensional one either). Celeste’s problems are less with Jesse than with her own romantic expectations (partly molded by societal ones, of course). Ultimately, however, it’s less where Celeste finds herself at the end of Celeste and Jesse Forever and more the often painfully funny journey toward self-knowledge, not to mention Jones and Samberg’s chemistry and dialogue together, that will linger long after moviegoers exit the theater.

75/100 ~ GOOD. It’s less where Celeste finds herself at the end of Celeste and Jesse Forever and more the often painfully funny journey toward self-knowledge, not to mention Jones and Samberg’s chemistry and dialogue together, that will linger long after moviegoers exit the theater.
By Mel Valentin
Mel Valentin hails from the great state of New Jersey. After attending NYU undergrad (politics and economics double major, religious studies minor) and grad school (law), he made the move, physically, mentally, and spiritually to California, specifically San Francisco. Mel's written more than 1,400 film-related reviews and articles. He's a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.