For a real-life couple to co-write a romantic comedy with a strange personal touch (Alison Brie is a nudist, and her character in who did I knowit is), I could talk about something autobiographical.
Although it is likely that Dave Franco (James’ younger brother and director of the film) and his wife Brie had more in their sights My best friend’s Wedding when this comedy that just came out of Amazon Prime Video is thought up and realized.
Well, Alison Brie (INCANDESCENT, nice revenge) is Ally, a workaholic, producer of a reality show about sweets (?), who is having a midlife crisis: she can’t find a partner or someone to have sex with and, well, her TV show has been cancelled. . And she makes the journey back from Los Angeles to her hometown of Leavenworth, Washington, to recalculate, like a GPS, and surprise her mother.
And boy is she surprised and surprised: Libby (Julie Hagerty, the stewardess of And where is the pilot?) is having oral sex with Ally’s elementary teacher.
And there will be other surprises for this character who – let’s assume – has no friends except his orange cat. Like going to a bar and hiding under the table when you see the African American guy who broke your heart ten years ago when you left him in a gang to go to Los Angeles to pursue your dream career.
The movie has, out there, a great line in dialogue. Ally left the small town to try her luck as a documentary filmmaker in Los Angeles. And he goes something like this: “Reality shows are like documentaries, but people watch them.”
And because it’s a rom-com, she soon discovers she’s still attracted to Sean (Jay Ellis, Lieutenant Reuben “Payback” Fitch, in Top Gun: nonconformistand the series insecure), then half throwing greyhounds. But what he doesn’t know is that Sean will marry a young musician, Cassidy (Kiersey Clemons, drugOR stuck in the ninetiesAND treasure).
I ruined your marriage
Ally will do anything to try and ruin her best ex boyfriend’s wedding, staying behind as a wedding preview videographer with her latest iPhone Plus.
But it’s after Cassidy tries to humiliate Ally on stage (remember the karaoke bar sequence from the Julia Roberts film?) that the good things come, perhaps the best someone i met. Is that after the first fights between the girls (Cassidy herself asks him if she won’t do like Julia Roberts in My best friend’s Wedding), begin to empathize. And Cassi is leaving her rock trio, so she’s not touring and she’s going to be with Sean. Sean and Ally’s story is repeating itself, but in reverse?
Ally doubts she made the right decision to return. What if she goes back to Los Angeles? No, better bet on love. But what if she gets another new Hollywood proposition?
What has been said: Franco and Brie are committed to showing the worst of what the protagonist is capable of, but also to see if she can (or not) redeem herself.
Difficult that in these streaming times the protagonist of a com rom I ended up being mean.
Oh, and over there, as is Sean’s turkey brother Haley Joel Osment34 years after seeing dead people Sixth Sensesaying “I see people from the past”.
They say there is always a time and place for a second chance, saying this so that everyone can interpret it as they see fit.
“Who I Knew”
Romantic comedy. USA, 2023. Original title: “Someone I knew”. From: Dave Franco. With: Alison Brie, Jay Ellis, Kiersey Clemons, Danny Pudi, Haley Joel Osment, Julie Hagerty. Available in: Amazon Prime videos.
Source: Clarin
