Movie Reviews

Movie Review – The Threesome (2025)

Published

3 months ago

December 28, 2025

The Threesome, 2025.

Directed by Chad Hartigan.
Starring Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, Ruby Cruz, Jaboukie Young-White, Josh Segarra, Robert Longstreet, Arden Myrin, Kristin Slaysman, Allan McLeod, Julia Sweeney, Tommy Do.

SYNOPSIS:

A young man’s perennial crush leads him into an unexpected threesome, he thinks it’s his ultimate fantasy come true. When the fantasy ends, all three are left with sobering real-world consequences, and to take responsibility for their actions.

There are two routes to take about a film where a good-natured man finds himself in the unexpected predicament that he is the father-to-be with two different women, and a situation in itself that partially sprung from a three-way: playing that premise as a straight romantic drama, or leaning into the absurdity of those odds for a romantic comedy. Titled The Threesome, this is a classic case of a director unsure of which direction to take, hoping that smashing the two tones together will work. For director Chad Hartigan and screenwriter Ethan Ogilby, it doesn’t come together.

For a while, it seems as though the filmmakers might pull it off. The story takes its time setting up its characters and establishing who they are, what they want, and their connection to one another. Connor Blake (a miscast Jonah Hauer-King, also given a bland mode for this material, but more about that later) is adept at articulating why partners are good for one another, as seen in the opening, delivering a speech for his best friend and gay newlywed Greg (Jaboukie Young-White), but his personal love life is directionless.

Connor still pines after longtime crush Olivia Capitano (Zoey Deutch, delivering excellent work in what also turns out to be the most complex role here), who isn’t that interested in him. Or maybe she is, and part of her is aware they would foresee their futures in a manner that isn’t mutually agreeable. There is also the factor that she has a push-pull attraction to bad boy Kevin (Josh Segarra), with whom she is trying her hardest to end things.

Olivia deals with these mixed emotions by interloping into a conversation between Connor and Jenny Brooks (Ruby Cruz), who has been stood up by a date at the bar where she and Greg work (following his best friend’s advice to try talking to new people). She begins to realize that perhaps she is taking his goodness for granted, stemming from how easily he chats up a stranger of the opposite sex and makes a friend. As a result, Olivia serves as a wingman for Connor. However, ultimately, the three return together and have sex together offscreen (because apparently, even a movie called The Threesome is sanitized in this modern sexless age of relatively mainstream American movies), which sets off a chain reaction of new dynamics between these characters that quickly detonates into something much more serious and life-changing.

After that night, Connor and Olivia start exploring the possibility of a serious relationship, which only becomes more serious when, after having sex again, he accidentally gets her pregnant. And while the shy, inexperienced, Christian-raised Jenny doesn’t regret the sexual experimentation and never necessarily had a reason to believe Connor would want a second date (although something about his ghosting doesn’t feel right, saying more about the depressing nature of modern dating than anything else), it turns out the morning shower sex they had when Olivia was gone also resulted in a pregnancy.

Across the three trimesters, Connor tries to do right by both Olivia and Jenny within relationship dynamics that change and evolve. Olivia questions whether or not she wants to keep the child, especially after learning about the previously mentioned morning sex behind her back, which she finds hurtful, even if they weren’t technically dating yet. She also still loves him and is wrestling with how society would perceive her if she took a man back who also plans to be a presence in the life of another child from another sexual partner. Meanwhile, Jenny’s religious upbringing comes into play; she herself is not that strict of a follower, but she is concerned about what her parents will think of her being somewhat of a single mother, faking a real relationship with Connor in front of them until the time feels right to tell the truth that it was more of a fling and that, although he plans to be there, they aren’t lovers.

This is all fascinating and relatively fresh dramatic material (shot with arresting cinematography by Sing Howe Yam, at one point observing a conversation between two characters with one of them reflected in a mirror on one side of the screen) that is consistently undermined by occasionally crossing over into situational humor or an unfortunate predictable twist that’s only serving to make the situation more messy rather than adding anything to the story.

It’s a lot like Connor himself, who is always annoyingly making inappropriate jokes, not maliciously, but as a coping defense mechanism. Sometimes, it comes across as a reflection of the filmmakers not knowing what to do with these characters and material other than gesturing at topicality regarding society. There is also a third-act situation that is begging for a full-blown comedic treatment, and even seems to be set up that way before abruptly reverting to shoddy drama. Even the attempts to humanize the religious aspects of Jenny’s family come across as halfhearted, as we never really get to know them or learn much about her.

The same could be said for Connor, who has an awful lot of free time to run around assisting two different women with doctor appointments, yoga sessions, and other preparations, since he happens to be a struggling musician, also given the bland personality of a person who does no wrong in dealing with his mistakes. He is portrayed as handsome and saintly, which also makes for dull given the chaotic scenario he is in.

It’s not that The Threesome comes across as dishonest, but rather too polished, with only Olivia’s character (and Zoey Deutch’s emotionally layered performance) cutting through to something poignant. There is a more interesting take on this narrative from her perspective, and presumably one with a stronger tonal balance.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist

Originally published December 27, 2025. Updated December 28, 2025.

Movie Reviews

‘Super Mario’ fans ignore weak reviews and send sequel to $372.5 million global box office debut, biggest opening of the year for a studio film | Fortune

Published

1 hour ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

‘Super Mario’ fans ignore weak reviews and send sequel to 2.5 million global box office debut, biggest opening of the year for a studio film | Fortune

Mixed reviews didn’t dissuade mass audiences from buying tickets to the “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which scored the biggest opening of the year for a Hollywood movie. The Illumination and Nintendo co-production earned $130.9 million over the weekend and a massive $190.1 million in its first five days in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Universal Pictures released the sequel globally on Wednesday, capitalizing on kids’ spring break vacations in the week leading up to the Easter holiday. With an estimated $182.4 million from 80 overseas markets, the film is looking at an astronomical $372.5 million debut — the latest hit for the PG rating. Mexico is leading the international bunch with $29.1 million from 5,136 screens, followed by the U.K. and Ireland with $19.7 million.

The animated sequel, Illumination CEO Christopher Meledandri’s 16th movie in 16 years, is the industry’s biggest debut since “Avatar: Fire and Ash” launched over Christmas. The Chinese movie “Pegasus 3,” which was not a Motion Picture Association release, has the slight edge for the 2026 global record, however.

It’s also a dip from the first film, which opened to $204 million domestically during the same five-day time frame in 2023 ($147 of that was from Friday, Saturday and Sunday). “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” went on to be the second biggest movie of 2023, with over $1.3 billion in box office receipts.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which features returning voice actors Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Day, had a massive footprint in the U.S. and Canada, where it played in 4,252 theaters, including 421 IMAX and 1,345 premium large format screens. It made $15 million from the IMAX screens alone.

“It’s exactly the kind of broad, crowd-pleasing release that brings people into theatres,” AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron said in a statement.

It also cost around $110 million to make, not including marketing and promotion expenses. But it arrived on a wave of less-than-stellar reviews. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is currently sitting at a lousy 40%. Ticket buyers were more enthusiastic, however.

The family audience gave the movie five out of five stars according to PostTrak exit polls, while general audiences gave it four stars and an A- on CinemsScore. Audiences skewed male (61%) overall, although when it came to families attending there were slightly more moms (52%) than dads.

“These kind of audience reaction scores just point to a ridiculously strong run, not only throughout the spring, but likely into the summer as well,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will open in Japan later this month.

Last year, the first weekend in April hosted the launch of another video game blockbuster, “A Minecraft Movie,” which had a bigger three-day debut ($162.8 million) but didn’t have a “Project Hail Mary” in a strong second place, meaning the weekend overall is still up around 5%.

As expected, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ended the two-week reignof the Ryan Gosling-led sci-fi hit “Project Hail Mary,” which landed in second its third weekend in theaters where it added $30.7 million, bringing its running domestic total to $217.2 million. Worldwide, it’s made $420.7 million to date.

Third place went to A24’s provocative new movie “The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, which made an estimated $14.4 million from 3,087 theaters. The film’s stars have been on a massive and charming press blitz to promote their R-rated movie about a engaged couple grappling with an unnerving revelation, which cost a reported $28 million to produce. The reveal has drummed up a fair amount of cultural discourse. While reviews have been more positive than not (82% on Rotten Tomatoes), it got a less promising B CinemaScore.

“Hoppers” and “Reminders of Him” rounded out the top five. And the box office outlook looks bright overall, up around 30% from last year.

“There’s no better opening act for a great summer than a huge month of April powered by a mega blockbuster like the ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, comscore’s head of marketplace trends.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1.“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $130.9 million.

2.“Project Hail Mary,” $30.7 million.

3.“The Drama,” $14.4 million.

4.“Hoppers,” $5.8 million.

5.“Reminders of Him,” $2.2 million.

6.“A Great Awakening,” $2.1 million.

7.“They Will Kill You,” $1.9 million.

8.“Dhurandhar The Revenge,” $1.9 million.

9.“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” $1.8 million.

10.“Scream 7,” 915,000.

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: THE YETI

Published

13 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

Rating: R Stars: Brittany Allen, Eric Nelsen, Jim Cummings, Christina Bennett Lind, Gene Gallerano, Linc Hand, Elizabeth Cappuccino, William Sadler, Corbin Bernsen Writers: Gene Gallerano & William Pisciotta Directors: Gene Gallerano & William Pisciotta Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment Release Date: April 4, 2026 and April 8, 2026 (AMC theatrical); April 10, 2026 (digital) Written and directed by the team of Gene Gallerano & William Pisciotta, THE YETI is set in the ‘40s and aspires to look as though it was made in the ‘50s. Its style seems to be part of its reason for being. It’s agreeable as a […]Read On »

Movie Reviews

Movie Review – Modern Whore (2025)

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2026

Press Room

Modern Whore, 2025.

Directed by Nicole Bazuin.
Starring Andrea Werhun.

SYNOPSIS:

Modern Whore follows Andrea Werhun as she portrays her past roles as escort Mary Ann, stripper Sophia, and her OnlyFans presence – all part of her Toronto sex work journey.

Writer/director Nicole Bazuin makes her feature debut with Modern Whore, a hybrid documentary detailing the experiences of Andrea Werhun based on her memoir of the same name. Bazuin and Werhun make an insightful and funny adaptation of Werhun’s life as a former sex worker in Toronto, examining the hows and whys of the industry and her participation in it.

Modern Whore takes an interesting approach to the way it tells Werhun’s story as half of it is a documentary of Werhun relaying her experiences and speaking with family, friends and colleagues while the other half is scripted with Werhun and others acting out the stories. It is unconventional, but its uniqueness makes Werhun’s story entertaining with a tight and witty script by her and Bazuin.

The scripted portions display Werhun’s fun personality with the cast and material – after all, literally telling and acting in her own story makes for a great performance as she opens herself up to some of her most vulnerable moments knowing the stigma against sex workers whether they are/were escorts or OnlyFans creators. There’s plenty of light self-awareness along with quirky fourth-wall breaking humour as she recounts her stories or that of her clients skewed perspectives of their interactions. It is also not afraid to shy away from the more difficult subject matter of being a sex worker like meeting with really sketchy clients or some taking it too far, looking at the impact it has and the little support system in place.

The switches from the scripted scenes to the talking heads or interviews is well paced with the formats complimenting each other. The interviews are interesting and insightful, digging into why someone chooses to enter sex work and the stigma they feel from family or friends. Werhun digs into the different personas she put on, how some were closer to her real self than others, and the necessity for those identities in her work. Much of the conversations revolve around the taboo of sex work and how the discussions are slowly shifting so it is less shameful, but still plenty of work needed to be done towards that front.

Modern Whore showcases great writing from Werhun and Bazuin with plenty of entertaining sequences, not to mention Werhun’s performance. It is insightful, funny and creative with its hybrid format, making it very memorable in several aspects.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Ricky Church – Follow me on Bluesky for more movie news and nerd talk.