SXSW Review: Drinking Buddies (2013)
Cast: Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson
Director: Joe Swanberg
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Romance
Editor’s Notes: Drinking Buddies premiered at SXSW 2013 and has no official release date. If you’ve already seen the film we’d love to hear your thoughts on it, or if you’re looking forward to seeing it, please tell us in the comments section below or in our new Next Projection Forums.
Rarely has a movie so effortlessly captured such believable interactions between human beings as successfully as Drinking Buddies. What is most impressive about director Joe Swanberg’s latest film isn’t that it was almost completely improvised, but that it is successful on multiple levels. Featuring tremendously strong performances from Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston, Drinking Buddies is nothing short of a minor masterpiece.
What is most impressive about director Joe Swanberg’s latest film isn’t that it was almost completely improvised, but that it is successful on multiple levels.
Kate (Wilde) is the main face of a prominent Chicago brewing company, where she spends many hours a day making endless phone calls, planning events, and making sure everything runs smoothly. Every night after work she heads to the bar to drink with her best friend Luke (Johnson). It’s clear very early on in the film that there is an obvious connection between the two, but nothing will ever come of it because the two are in serious committed relationships.
Kate has been dating Chris (Livingston) for a little under a year, and it’s difficult to see exactly why the two have lasted so long. As a man who makes his living as a music producer, Chris fancies himself as a bit of an intellectual, drinking wine with his meals while listening to classical music. Kate and Chris are almost polar opposites, her down-to-earth style violently clashing with his more refined tastes.
Luke and Jill (Kendrick) live together and have been dating for six years. In Jill’s mind, marriage is the logical next step in their relationship. The two don’t necessarily seem like a match made in heaven, but their open communication and genuine dedication to each other give their relationship a level of maturity that Kate and Chris’s severely lacks. When the two couples take a weekend trip to a beach house, events happen that put stress on both relationships and cause them to reevaluate where they stand.
Don’t think for a second that Drinking Buddies is traveling into familiar territory. Although its basic initial plot elements may seem familiar, the resulting action and interplay between the film’s characters is completely original and endlessly gripping. At long last, Olivia Wilde has been given a role that allows her to show her acting range instead of delegating her to a one-dimensional boring role that just requires her to look pretty. Needless to say, she nails her performance. More known for his comedy roles, Jake Johnson is equally as wonderful Luke, proving that he has a dramatic side too. I can’t wait to see what great roles his career holds in store. Both Wilde and Johnson shine together onscreen in such an organic way you’d swear their interactions were real.
Although its basic initial plot elements may seem familiar, the resulting action and interplay between the film’s characters is completely original and endlessly gripping.
Although the main focus of the film is Wilde and Johnson, Kendrick and Livingston get some great moments together as well. Kendrick is uncharacteristically restrained, delivering a completely different performance than the quirky, upbeat characters that we have come to associate with her. Though her character isn’t really given as much room to breathe as the others, she is still responsible for at least one great moment in the film. For a man playing a character who is absent after the film’s first act, Livingston leaves a great impression given his limited screen time. He could have easily made his character unlikeable, but he creates a character that not only feels real but is surprisingly sympathetic as well.
Like many great movies, Drinking Buddies is a movie that can’t really fit into one specific genre. I imagine that Magnolia Pictures, who acquired the rights to the film after it screened at SXSW earlier this month, will market the movie as a light-hearted romantic comedy. While there are plenty of hilarious moments in Drinking Buddies, there are equally as many dramatic moments as well. It is a film that explores temptation, heartbreak, friendship, and other themes in a mature manner that elevates it above your average romantic comedy. Joe Swanberg’s direction is so personal it almost feels invasive. We almost feel like we’re spying on intimate moments. This is independent moviemaking at its finest.
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