The advertising for this film is extremely misleading. The trailers would have you believe it another unrequited-lovers-indie-rom-com but the finished product is anything but. While it's true that the film deals with unrequited love, it doesn't resort to artifice to explore it. The characters are very well-defined people who are so realistically rendered that they might as well be people from your real life. Everyone, especially Wilde, has a bottomless assortment of nuanced mannerisms completely natural to them but unpredictable and unforced. DRINKING BUDDIES has its roots in Mumblecore, but it spiritually takes after Cassavetes more than Baumbach, but with the added delight of avoiding Cassavetes' circular awkwardness and unmotivated arguments and focusing on character trajectories based on their decisions.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this film and if you enjoy verite film that doesn't wallow in melancholy or socialist realism, you will be too. I highly recommend it.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this film and if you enjoy verite film that doesn't wallow in melancholy or socialist realism, you will be too. I highly recommend it.