In this talky black comedy, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder play Lindsay and Frank, a pair of misanthropes thrust grudgingly together on their way to a glossy wedding in the California countryside. It will require all your love for the pair to hang in there as they take turns to exchange jaded worldviews, between lengthy sessions of carping, bitching and gloomy introspection. It’s basically the Phil and Rita dynamic from ‘Groundhog Day’, only with two Phils and a fifth of the jokes.
Initially, at least, the pair carry this meet-rude premise with some enjoyable anti-charm and a few decent lines. They’re horrible to each other from the minute they’re thrown together on a flight, passive-aggressively jousting over packets of airline peanuts, shared taxis and the awkward rehearsal dinners. When Lindsay admits that she’s still pining for her ex, who just happens to be the groom at the wedding, Frank reassures her that the happy couple are doomed. ‘Some marriages work out,’ offers Linsday. ‘Yes, and some people have six fingers,’ he retorts.
Judging by the self-conscious dialogue – of which there is loads – and the vague philosophical air that settles over things, writer-director Victor Levin is pitching for a screwball chemistry with an extra mordant streak. The patter, though, is never quite sharp enough or the characters likeable enough to pull it off, despite its stars’ best efforts. Unusually, and in a style that feels borrowed from the theatre, there are no supporting characters for the pair to play off (or more likely, bond conspiratorially against). It’s just pure, uncut Lindsay and Frank. Over the course of the movie, they wear a bit thin.
