“Drinking Buddies” wasn’t what I expected. Looking at its poster, in which the four attractive leads sit pulling faces together on the floor of a bar with a drink in hand, and reading the title, I assumed that it would be a breezy comedy set mostly in a bar as our leads converse about life, sex, their past and their future over a few too many beers. I was wrong — what I ended up getting was much better and far more interesting than that sounded (and, unlike in the poster, features “New Girl" star Jake Johnson sporting a fuzzy beard).
Writer-director Joe Swanberg’s indie dramedy, impressively his fourteenth film since his 2005 debut “Kissing on the Mouth,” is instead a bittersweet, maturely handled story about unspoken romance between two best friends who are in relationships with other people. It features terrific performances from Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson as Kate and Luke, co-workers at a Chicago brewery and close pals, as well as Ron Livingstone and Anna Kendrick as their respective partners, Chris and Jill.
The plot, loose but directed with focus by Swanberg, follows the friendship of Kate and Luke, seemingly perfect for each other, as it develops slowly and silently into romance — this, in spite of their supposed commitment to their oblivious partners. Things take a turn after a double date at a remote cabin by the beach, where a kiss in the woods (I won’t say between whom) and a night alone by the shore (again, I won’t say between whom) suggest that the film is going in the expected direction, but then... maybe not.
I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that much of the dialogue was improvised by the cast: their performances are so natural that at no point do they appear to be reading from a script. Swanberg, deliberately restrained, steps aside to let his actors fill the screen, and rightly so: with a firm grasp on their characters, Wilde, Johnson, Kendrick and Livingstone are a joy to watch, their interaction completely authentic, their chemistry undeniable.
What I liked most about “Drinking Buddies” is that it displays bona fide human emotion shared between characters in whom we absolutely believe. These aren’t Hollywood stereotypes in a formulaic rom-com: they’re real people, complex and flawed, and of the sort that we can recognise from our own daily lives. Some have complained that they found the four main characters unlikeable. I disagree: I found them genuine, compelling and, much like the film, refreshingly, endearingly human.
Rating: 8/10
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