'Together Together' Review
R: Some sexual references and language
Runtime: 1 Hr and 30 Minutes
Production Companies: Wild Idea, Stay Gold Features, Haven Entertainment
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Director: Nikole Beckwith
Writer: Nikole Beckwith
Cast: Ed Helms, Patti Harrison, Tig Notaro, Julio Torres, Anna Konkle
Release Date: April 23, 2021
THEATRICAL
When young loner Anna is hired as the gestational surrogate for Matt, a single man in his 40s who wants a child, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries, and the particulars of love.
Writer/director Nikole Beckwith’s indie feature Together Together showcases a rare kind of romantic comedy that often goes underseen in the genre: platonic love. Platonic love is a subject rarely explored in film and even when it is, it either comes from a non-American country or is developed into romantic love where the leads end up together. A decade ago, the only kind of progress made involved depicting friends-with-benefits romances, and how did those end? The leads always fell into a relationship with each other. We had two of those movies within the very same year (No Strings Attached, Friends With Benefits).
We have now progressed long past that point and are bringing visibility to platonic love, and Together Together delivers it in a heartwarming manner. Matt (Ed Helms) is a single Gen-X man in his 40s who’s ready to be a dad. He’s so darn lonely that when you get a glimpse into his life, you understand his desire to have a child of his own. His parents ignore him and his brother and sister-in-law are too preoccupied with their children. He's so lonely that he calls Friends the godfather of television shows because he has none. Very early into the film, he conducts a surrogate interview with Anna (Patti Harrison), an honest, sarcastic millennial with her own dry, witty sense of humor. He’s so charmed by her blunt nature that he hires her for the gig. Structured by each trimester stage of the pregnancy, the movie follows Matt and Anna as they tackle the hurdles of pregnancy as they become a prevalent figure in each other’s life in a way they didn’t expect.
There’s a clear generational rift between the two in terms of ideologies and lifestyles but they’re both found in a similar crossroads of loneliness, and you witness this budding human bond between them grow into something special. Think of it as Baby Mama meets the hallmarks of a Nora Ephron movie, but asexual as hell. One of the film’s strongest suits is Beckwith’s screenplay. Though it’s not groundbreaking by any means, the film has a timely modern sensibility that’s grounded in reality. Anna is a barista who is emotionally closed off from the world while Matt is committed to being present throughout his surrogate’s pregnancy stages. It’s a fun dynamic that could easily be forged into a romance, but Beckwith spins it so well to make it an even more passionate, heartwarming kind of relationship. She gives individuality and duality to Matt and Anna’s relationship and in the short span of 90 minutes you learn to genuinely root for their friendship to succeed as they grow to care about one another.
Ed Helms and Patti Harrison are absolutely spectacular together. They share great chemistry as they combine their different styles of comedy –– Helms’s upbeat eccentrics and Harrison’s dry wit — with their generational gap to great comedic effect. As they grow to become more intimate with each other, due to the genuine foundation of a progressing human relationship, you see more of their dramatic range and they are so outstanding. I never thought I’d cry during a movie led by Ed Helms, yet here we are. At first, he starts off as the typical Ed Helms character where he’s invasive and annoying. Matt centers everything around Anna immediately after she’s hired, but the more you get to understand Matt, the more you realize that he means well and Helms’s natural charm makes you adore his character.
This was my introduction to Patti Harrison as an actress (I know, I’m late to the party) and God, she is amazing. Her deadpan, cynical sense of humor really gives Anna so much life and often had me cracking up. Being unfamiliar with Harrison as an actress, I was surprised to learn that she’s trans because Anna is a cis character. To anyone in Hollywood reading this and/or watching the film, please normalize casting a trans actress to play cis women in film, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! Needless to say, I can’t wait to see how Harrison’s future career in film plays out, and hopefully it involves more roles that are as dimensional and lovable as Anna.
As much as Together Together tries to be subversive, it follows some overly familiar structures that prevent it from completely standing on its own two feet. Some of the writing is too on-the-nose, following the beats of a standard rom-com despite how its narrative structure follows the stages of Anna’s pregnancy. It will potentially alienate some audiences, but as someone who adores stories about genuine human connection, it wasn’t that much of a problem for me.
Together Together is such a gosh darn sweet, tender, and charming story about the intimate, platonic bond of two unlikely people who become the best of friends — with two incredible central performances to boot. I hope this movie gets nominated for MTV movie awards under the Best Couple category because platonic couples exist and they deserve attention! I love these kinds of movies and we should get more of them. Give me more platonic odd couple best friend stories that are asexual and sweet!
