Seeing Other People (***)
review by Jon Waterman

Ed and Alice have it all. They’re deeply in love with steady careers and everyone they know is jealous of their romantic success. Yet, Alice isn’t happy. She feels she’s missed out on everything life has to offer. She’s not talking about skydiving or traveling the world. Alice wants sex; lots of hot, meaningless, casual sex. Ed is understandably apprehensive, but eventually they agree that until they get married in a couple months, they are allowed to sleep around but they must tell each other what they’re doing. Can this ever work?

Director Wallace Wolodarsky wrote the film along with Maya Forbes. They create an interesting story involving a small circle of friends. The humor is light, but not really light-hearted. This comedy doesn’t provide too many laugh-out-loud moments. There are funny people in here in Jay Mohr (Ed) and Andy Richter (as Ed’s good-natured buddy Carl). The rest of the main cast also has experience in well-received comedies. I didn’t really miss the lack of gut-busters. The flat jokes seemed to roll right away, because they contain something of substance that aided the film in another way. For instance, when Carl is talking to the young son about memorizing baseball stats to cope with divorce, he gives the punch line, “You know about the Federal League?” This line doesn’t get a laugh. Not even close. But it still shows the extent of what the kid is feeling and allows Carl to relate to the boy.

The movie is very well structured and doesn’t dwell (or include) any unnecessary moments or scenes. The progression of attitudes and emotions moves fluidly throughout. The film acts like a simulation of how events would transpire. The characters react the way most would expect. Not only does this agreement affect the engaged couple in myriad ways, but it also starts to ripple into their friends and family. The people involved feed off each other. Near the end, the whole thing gets a little too crazy and over-the-top and thus loses its believability. Up until that point, the movie handles the pact honestly and maturely. I particularly liked the montage of the two leaving the house to start their day increasingly becoming less romantic. It’s very telling of the relationship between them and the nature of their characters.

As far as the directing goes, it’s functional, but nothing more. He seems to be a better actor’s director, since he elicits fine, nuanced performances from a largely non-dramatic group. This may or may not be a good date movie. Some might find it encouraging and uplifting to know they aren’t like the people on the screen. Other people might take the opportunity to start an unwanted discussion. No matter who you see it with, “Seeing Other People” is an interesting and well-made film that lacks a little something on the fun/humor side.

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