Review: Sleeping with Other People
"Are we in love with each other?" Lainey (Alison Brie) asks Jake (Jason Sudeikis). The answer, of course, is yes but before they can have their proverbial happy ending, they must go through the motions of being kept apart in the occasionally engaging but mostly haphazard romantic comedy, Sleeping with Other People.
Lainey and Jake's initial brief encounter takes place in a college dormitory where drunk in love Lainey is in the midst of breaking down the door of Matthew Sobvechik, the TA she wants to take her virginity. Jake, stars in his eyes at the sight of her, comes to the rescue of this unhinged hottie, stoking her interest with humorous patter and telling her that losing her virginity to the unworthy Sobvechik would be the greatest joke of all time. She's amazing, Sobvechik is "the Pontiac Aztec of people." Lainey realises Jake himself is still a virgin and the two end the night by sleeping with each other on the dorm's rooftop.
Cut to twelve years later. Jake is a serial womaniser who still tries to talk himself into or out of situations such as getting back in the good graces of his girlfriend after she discovers Jake has been cheating on her with her best friend. Lainey, meanwhile, is in the midst of reforming herself by confessing to her boyfriend (Adam Brody) that she has cheated on him 16 times...with the same guy. It's part and parcel of her sex addiction and her romantic obsession, she explains. "You're not an addict, you're a whore," her boyfriend cries before stomping out of the restaurant.
It turns out that Lainey is still pining after Sobvechik (Adam Scott, sporting a sleazy moustache), who is now an OB-GYN with a heavily pregnant wife (Katherine Waterston) but who has no compunction about dallying with Lainey on the side. The scenes between Lainey and Sobvechik are so psychologically darker than the rest of the film that it throws everything else off balance. It's difficult to fully focus on Lainey and Jake's romance when the toxic dynamic between Lainey and Sobvechik is arguably more intriguing. Writer-director Leslye Headland has stated that the character of Lainey was partly what Fatal Attraction would have been if told from the perspective of Glenn Close's spurned character. One certainly feels sympathy for Lainey as she attempts to discover her self-worth by extricating herself from under Sobvechik's spell. However, the exploration of her emotional damage within the framework of this genre never feels of a piece with the overall film. Headland doesn't play it safe, but she doesn't play it smart either.
It's a credit to Brie that there's even a semblance of cohesion in Lainey's trajectory. She's a terrific physical comedienne as evidenced by her ecstasy-spiked dance to David Bowie's "Modern Love," and has a tart delivery that offsets her angelic countenance. She and Sudeikis share a sexy and funny chemistry, and it's all too evident that their characters' pledge to keep things platonic will soon be broken.
Sleeping with Other People
Directed by: Leslye Headland
Written by: Leslye Headland
Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Amanda Peet, Adam Scott, Natasha Lyonne, Katherine Waterston, Jason Mantzoukas, Andrea Savage, Marc Blucas, Adam Brody, Billy Eichner, Margaret Levieva
