Alone Together (2022) – Movie Review

Alone Collectively, 2022.

Written and Directed by Katie Holmes.
Starring Katie Holmes, Jim Sturgess, Derek Luke, Melissa Leo, Zosia Mamet, Luke Kirby, and Becky Ann Baker.

SYNOPSIS:

Two strangers embroiled in unhealthy relationships wind up in the identical upstate New York Airbnb.

As two lockdown Airbnb strangers (June and Charlie, performed by Katie Holmes and Jim Sturgess with the chemistry of a center faculty science lab task gone fallacious) get to know one another, they start discussing their favourite books. June mentions Transit, stating that she shouldn’t be eager about plot however character research and human connection. Performing triple responsibility as additionally the author and director of Alone Collectively, Katie Holmes seems to be striving to create one thing comparable right here, besides the script and story are about as fascinating as watching grass develop, with a Lifetime film story trajectory.

Alone Collectively isn’t just uninteresting, although, because it additionally takes a questionable method to pandemic-era character conduct (the story begins in March of 2020, proper as America began to enter a state of warning and lockdown). All through the film, there are tv voice clips of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo briefing the nation on the severity of COVID-19 and the way people might shield themselves.

Nonetheless, that’s not stopping June from going to this distant retreat that her boyfriend (Derek Luke) booked after which getting upset with him as a result of he’s extra targeted on staying along with his mother and father for a number of days (who’re rightfully terrified about what’s taking place). From there, it’s affordable to imagine that after June finds out the house has by some means been double-booked and begins interacting with Charlie, she is going to develop right into a much less egocentric and wiser individual.

As a substitute, the characters largely ignore the pandemic round them (though they reduce collectively some home made masks as soon as it’s suggested individuals ought to begin sporting them, just for nobody to place them on a lot). It begs the query of why this can be a pandemic-era film within the first place, contemplating all it does is make the bonding lovebirds on the heart considerably unlikable.

Suppose you’re questioning why June is flirting and, finally, having intercourse with another person. In that case, it’s as a result of she feels that her boyfriend has grown distant whereas suspecting that he could also be dishonest on her since there’s a current {photograph} on social media of him with a lovely work colleague. That’s hardly sufficient proof to begin sleeping with another person, and the movie doesn’t profit from having egocentric characters since each events listed below are one-dimensional and flat with nothing considerate to say. Katie Holmes appears to assume we must always cheer this romance on, doubling down within the third act with compelled and contrived writing inviting us to take action whereas additionally utilizing COVID loss of life insensitively.

The earlier 80 minutes virtually comprise no battle, with Charlie (I’ll say that Jim Sturgess is doing his damnedest to offer this character an additional shade or two, to no avail) coming throughout as the right man from the get-go, wronged by a serial-cheating ex-girlfriend and considerably disconnected from his mom (Melissa Leo, briefly showing a number of instances by way of laptop screens). The characters mirror one another in some methods, however practically each attribute or bid of exposition is tossed apart or meaningless.

There’s nothing fallacious with lockdown romance (whether or not it’s characters falling in love or marriages dissolving, and now we have seen some fairly good ones thus far). Nonetheless, Alone Collectively is as dry because the Sahara desert and doesn’t discover an clever or partaking strategy to combine the horror of March 2020 into the lives of those two past primarily ignoring it. To not point out, the dialogue between these two is horrendous and shallow. Maybe Katie Holmes ought to keep on with one thing extra plot-centric sooner or later.

Flickering Fantasy Ranking – Movie: ★ ★  / Film: ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Movie Critics Affiliation and the Critics Alternative Affiliation. He’s additionally the Flickering Fantasy Opinions Editor. Verify right here for brand spanking new opinions, comply with my Twitter or Letterboxd, or electronic mail me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

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