‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’ has Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg reinventing rom-coms
Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg are perfectly cast in the romantic comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever. The two comedians know how to make their characters interesting and funny, and that’s much appreciated because the movie they are stuck in feels a little formulaic. Although Celeste and Jesse Forever tries to blow up rom-com conventions, it can’t quite break from the orbit. A similar situation occurred with Enough Said, the 2013 comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini. These are two movies featuring two great characters who seemingly are clever enough to lift the narrative above convention, but they fail doing so.
Celeste (Jones) and Jesse (Samberg) were once together in a relationship, but now they live a BFF life. Their friends, including Beth (Ari Graynor) and Tucker (Eric Christian Olsen), can’t understand how the former couple can still live together and make nice. Celeste and Jesse, friends for a long time, tell them that their friendship is much stronger than their love life, and they want that partnership to last forever.
This premise is original, and it allows Jones and Samberg to have fun. There is a real sense of believability that Celeste and Jesse know each other’s quirks, and that’s largely because of the chemistry between these two actors. It’s not hard to imagine that they’ve known each other since high school.
The inevitable problem with the script, which was written by Jones and Will McCormack, is that Celeste and Jesse attempt to move on with their individual lives, and this causes some difficulty in the friendship. All was fine and well when this couple could be friends with no outside boyfriends or girlfriends disrupting the rhythm; however, when Jesse gets serious with a girl, things start to crash.
It’s impossible not to enjoy Celeste and Jesse Forever. The script, although formulaic in the end, is intelligently written, and the one-liners and zaniness of the title characters make for easy viewing. If these two creations headed down a different path, one not so Hollywood-ish, the movie would be as masterful as the characterizations.
Director Lee Toland Krieger largely stands out of the way of his cast members, and that’s probably the right move. Samberg and Jones are comedic professionals, both proving their chops on NBC programming (Samberg on Saturday Night Live and Jones on The Office and other shows). Their pairing in this film is inspired, but the vehicle they’re driving can’t keep up with their quick wit and funny sensibility.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
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Celeste and Jesse Forever
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2012
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Directed by Lee Toland Krieger
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Written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack
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Starring Jones, Andy Samberg, Ari Graynor and Eric Christian Olsen
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Running time: 93 minutes
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Rated R for language, sexual content and drug use
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Rating:
