100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 108: Drinking Buddies

Director: Joe Swanberg

Genre: Drama/ Romance

Runtime: 87 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston, Jason Sudeikis

Description: Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) are coworkers at a brewery who spend their nights drinking and flirting heavily. One weekend away together with their significant others proves who really belongs together and who doesn't.

Review: Ever heard of the term ‘mumblecore’? No? It’s a movie with a low budget, cheap montage, improvisation by the actors and focus on the dialogue. “Drinking Buddies” is a movie that falls in the subgenre of the Indie flick.

Director Joe Swanberg is one of the founders of mumblecore. His movies are about the reflection of life. No special effects, because life itself is spectacular enough. “Drinking Buddies” is a bit different, because he had more budget. So he could have actors like Olivia Wilde and Anna Kendrick star in it.

“Drinking Buddies” follows Kate and Luke. They are co-workers at a beer brewery and are perfect for each other. One problem: they are both in a relationship. Luke is about to marry his girlfriend Jill, with whom he has been with for six years, and Kate is dating music producer Chris.

Wilde shines in this film and shows us she is a very good actress. She is charming, witty and sharp. Kendrick doesn’t show that though, the way she did in movies like “Pitch Perfect” and “50/ 50”. In those movies she really showed what she was made of. Ron Livingston and Jake Johnson are both very solid and likeable. All the characters are realistic, sympathetic and there is always one you can identify with.

The movie is sometimes a bit slow, just like in real life. I think if the pace was higher, more people would have loved this movie. I didn’t mind that by the way, this is my sort of movie. I like this mumblecore genre.

Rating: 4/ 5