Peter and Vandy is the latest entry in the indie-ish romantic-comedy subgenre of Hipster Love Stories Told Out of Order. Peter (Ritter, rocking Ethan Hawke’s early-’90s hirsute dreamboat look) and Vandy (Weixler, her eyes absent of the mischievous spark she brought to Alexander the Last) meet awkward, swiftly shack up and eventually break up. Will they reunite? Will we care?
Directed by Jay DiPietro and adapted from his play of the same name, the movie dismantles a thoroughly average, not-particularly-romantic romance between twentyish New Yorkers into mundane, mostly domestic vignettes. To ostensibly lend drama to inherently uninteresting couples stuff like ordering takeout and arguing about peanut butter, DiPietro shuffles scenes, starting at the end of the story and jumping back and forth along the timeline of the relationship until we get back there again. Mimicking Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’s structure and style but never approaching that film’s transcendent empathy for love’s logic-defying lure, Peter and Vandy is crippled by DiPietro’s interest in repetition. Activities that were cute and fun at the beginning, we see, ultimately become tedious. The novelty of the film’s gimmick follows suit.—Karina Longworth
Opens Fri; Cinema Village. Find showtimes
Watch the trailer