'Mark, Mary & Some Other People' Review
NR
Runtime: 1 Hr and 30 Minutes
Production Companies: Ten Acre Films, Bee-Hive Productions, Crush Pictures
Distributor: Vertical Entertainment
Director: Hannah Marks
Writer: Hannah Marks
Cast: Hayley Law, Ben Rosenfield, Odessa A'zion, Nik Dodani, Matt Shively, Sofia Bryant, Gillian Jacobs, Joe Lo Truglio, Steve Little, Kelli Berglund, Haley Ramm, Peter Williams, Lea Thompson
Release Date: N/A
Mark and Mary's meet-cute happens at a neighborhood drug store, where she is busy buying a pregnancy test, and he has to make an effort to remind her they met in college. After asking her out, he accompanies her as she takes the test, and upon it showing negative, she agrees to a date. One year later, they have fallen deeply, passionately, head over heels in love, and their whirlwind romance leads to marriage. So when Mary suddenly requests they open their relationship to “ethical non-monogamy”, Mark is taken by surprise but agrees to try it. And that's where this story really begins.
Writer/director Hannah Marks has been making her mark (no pun intended) as an up-and-coming filmmaker with a distinct voice. With works such as After Everything (her directorial debut) and Banana Split (which she wrote), it’s clear she has a knack for exploring messy bouts of love and relationships in millennial culture on the cusp of adulthood with terrific leads who have kinetic chemistry. That notion continues in her sophomore feature Mark, Mary & Some Other People, which explores a married millennial couple unaware that they were way in over their heads and begin to explore polyamory.
Marks’ direction is strong, capturing the fast-paced, dizzying yet euphoric feeling of being in your 20s and the carefree lifestyle we all want to experience. The narrative is set in LA and the various bright and vibrant locations match the youthful and sexy energy of the titular leads. The archetypes of the characters are enticing enough to follow: Mary is a confident and blunt freelancer who does safe sex work and Mark is a slacker who can best be described as a quasi dim-witted, sensitive type. You can feel pieces of Marks’ real-world experiences infused into the screenplay and her characters, especially with Mary. While they aren’t very fleshed-out characters, Hayley Law and Ben Rosenfield’s energetic charisma and range of relatable emotions help elevate the picture.
For a romantic comedy, the screenplay is sharp and witty with very relatable discussions regarding being young and sexual. Watching this movie about sexual freedom after the dry spell the world has experienced, the sexy montages of the pair hooking up with strangers via dating apps make you feel their desire to go out and explore their options. I was briefly on board with how the film depicts modern dating, especially from the eyes of two attractive people. The duo is honest about their emotions and, despite the messiness of the relationship, there were several trappings that were rightfully avoided in the film. However, the script also didn’t know what it wanted to say about the practice it was depicting.
Throughout the film, you feel an impending doom following the titular characters’ streak of sexual relations with multiple partners. As it progressed, there were several options the film could’ve taken to give polyamory some nuance. It’s always vilified to some extent, and given that Gen-Z and Millennials tend to be more comfortable with open relationships, Mark, Mary & Some Other People was supposed to provide something fresh. There was potential for Marks to make a statement on polyamory. Not only does she not follow through with any solid statement on the matter, but she also severely punishes her characters because of it. Marks put her leads through the ringer and make it look like it’s the consequences of exploring polygamy which is such a tasteless thing to do. It’s a shame and a huge detriment to the overall narrative, for it begins deconstructing the positives about it, yet it ends up taking a depressingly messy route.
Another detriment to the story is how forced the passage of time itself is which makes the titular character’s love feel the same way as well. Having the two leads wed in the opening credits makes the film is the first occurrence to the ample time jumps the narrative does a lot of to a frustrating extent. Though it’s meant to be a depiction of the current generation, it has a much X-er mentality of relationships. Like, instead it could've done the current generation practice of a domestic partnership which is very popular to people who don’t want to get married but still be together. Much of the film is breezy and full of montages that hardly leave any room for the characters to breathe and be fleshed out. It doesn’t let Mary and Mark’s relationship become anything more than a mutual attraction, failing to feel like a genuine marriage. It bleeds only into their rough patches rather than their love and affection.
I’m at a weird crossroads where I enjoyed watching Mark, Mary & Some Other People but it noticeably lacks substance within its narrative outside of ample laughs and fun, sexy moments that make you feel young and free. Maybe if Marks’ screenplay wasn’t so harsh while depicting polyamory, the film would’ve been a solid recommendation, but as it stands, it’s an entertaining yet shallow time.
