“Somebody I Used to Know” Delivers Uneven Love Triangle

The love triangle is a common trope in rom-coms, but it can be difficult to use with precision.

If one party is too evil or bland, the chemistry experiment explodes in front of us.

“Somebody I Used to Know” It makes another, but equally important mistake in its unbalanced trio. That, and the film’s indifferent approach to comedy, undermines a sophisticated look at relationships.

Alison Brie portrays Ally, a hard-charging TV Producer who is still reeling from the loss of her reality series.

Ally returns home to her hometown in order to regroup. However, she quickly reunites once again with Sean (Jay Ellis), a charming old flame. The old sparks are still there, and so is Sean’s fiancé (Kiersey Clemons, “Dope”).

Only days remain until the big day.

Is it too late for Ally to revive her relationship with Sean Can she stop the wedding? Brie, a lovely actress, could make Ally less appealing.

It is not certain.

This isn’t the first time a rom-com attempted to shatter a wedding ceremony. The film names-checks. “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” A genre classic. Julia Roberts was at her most vulnerable in this film.

Brie’s Ally is a mess, but it’s hard to like her on any level. She’s obsessed with her trashy reality show, a dessert-themed dating debacle. She has no empathy for the future bride for a good, long while, nor the hurt she could cause Sean’s friends and family.

She then dismisses Ma (Julie Hagerty), swiping just a few scenes from her short screen time.

Are you rooting for Ally? That is a matter of course.

Film can survive the cruelty of a leading lady. Understanding the story will help her confront her toxic impulses. Much of the film’s success is due to its sensitivity. “Somebody I Used to Know” is a snooze, brimming with lackluster sequences and characters who don’t burrow under our skin in the best of ways.

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— Darren Paltrowitz (@paltrowitz) February 6, 2023

Director Dave Franco, who co-wrote the film with Brie (his off-screen spouse), delivers some droll moments tied to Ally’s Hollywood gig. The laughs are always easy to come by on reality shows.

Then, their laughter ceases. In their place we get forced gaiety from Ally reuniting with Sean’s extended family. This allows for a mini -“Community” Reunion with Brie and Danny Pudi, co-star.

So there’s that.

Otherwise, the film’s core theme doesn’t emerge until late in the story. It’s a feminist twist rarely addressed in romantic features, and it’s handled with the appropriate sense of proportion. The subject isn’t strong enough to hang a story around, though, leaving the film’s third act bereft of dramatic tension.

The Franco-Brie screenplay occasionally remembers it’s a comedy, but the results are often crude and uneven.

These, along with many other scenes filled with cringe, make it difficult to believe. “Somebody I Used to Know” This is a bold, but unwieldy twist on the rom-com format.

Miss or HiT: “Somebody I Used to Know” offers something we haven’t seen before in modern rom-coms, but we’re forced to spend time with a terribly off-putting heroine.