CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.
Film Review: ‘They Came Together’ Sharply Skewers the Rom-Com
CHICAGO – If there is any genre of film that needs a good blasting, it is the romantic comedy. These silly fantasies practically seem like satires anyway, so when the comic genius of writer/director David Wain ponders them, and casts Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler as the “couple,” the funny will fly.
Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
Although making fun of the rom-com is like shooting fish in a barrel, Wain – with co-writer Michael Showalter – use all kind of firing weapons. The film is actually like the “Airplane” of rom-com satires, going so extreme and surreal that you will be as much freaking out as laughing, which is awesome. Rudd, Poehler, Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother”), Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper (“The Office”) are all at the top of their comic games, and they deliver the sometimes bizarre material to perfection. If you love or hate rom-coms, this movie is for you. Hell, even if you don’t think about them that much, it’s still for you.
The film begins in a restaurant, with Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) relating to their friends Bob and Karen (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper) the story of their meeting. As in most romantic comedies (or at least “You’ve Got Mail”) there is a big corporate candy concern that Joel works for, and that threatened Molly’s quirky little candy shoppe in Manhattan.
It’s hate at first sight for the couple, and they go their separate ways until meeting again in a bookstore. They find a commonality over “fiction books,’ and their romance blossoms. Again, as in the playbook, there has to be a break up in the middle of the romance, plus some misunderstandings, plus a seeking of comfort from a best friend, plus an awkward rebound date (knocked out of the park as portrayed by Ed Helms) until finally, they come together.
Coosome Twosome: Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) in ‘They Came Together’
Photo credit: Lionsgate