‘The Threesome' Review: Zoey Deutch Shines In Rom-Com With Complications
The title of the new rom-com The Threesome is certainly eye-catching, but the sexual tripling it suggests is just a starting point for a plot that could probably be dragged out for a full season on The Young & the Restless.
Fortunately, the soap-opera turns the story takes are in the hands of talented indie filmmakers who devise a complex tale of three young singles simply looking for love but find complications pulling them apart and keeping them together in ways they never could have imagined.
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At its heart it is a simple premise. Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) has a longtime crush on lively and attractive Olivia (Zoey Deutch), who notices him engaged in conversation with a stranger named Jenny (Ruby Cruz) and decides to take matters into her own hands by ingratiating herself with the woman they both have just met, seducing not just Connor but also Jenny, first with a kiss and then an impulsive one-night stand for the three of them at Connor's apartment.
Waking up the next morning, Olivia is still sleeping when Connor discovers Jenny in the kitchen and offers to make her tea as well as a shower. She slyly takes him up on both, even suggesting he might want to join her under the water. He does. Then it is goodbye.
Meanwhile, that night has led to something more serious for Connor and Olivia, even to the point where she becomes pregnant and they plan a new phase of their lives happily together. That is until out of the blue Jenny reappears and announces she is pregnant and Connor is the baby daddy. Impossible, says Jenny, since he was wearing a condom the one night they were all in bed together. Uh, not so fast, as Jenny explains he wasn't wearing one the next morning in the shower, a circumstance that surprises and outrages Olivia, now realizing Connor is going to be father to both of their babies. She breaks off their relationship as both she and Jenny make the decision to have the babies or get an abortion (a hot-button issue deftly handled here), but it becomes wildly out of control as two different sets of parents also become involved in this complicated threesome about to become a fivesome.
Ethan Ogilby's debut screenplay delivers all the twists of turns but keeps the focus on character as Connor is a genuinely nice guy who wants to do the right thing but finds his potent sperm has really put him in an impossible situation and affair of the heart(s). It's uh, complicated. Director Chad Hartigan (This Is Martin Bonner, Morris From America) expertly keeps this soufflé from crumbling, never letting it go over the top which it easily could have done.
Fortunately this is a terrific cast that also avoids overplaying the melodramatic undertones here, keeping it believably human all the way. Deutch, also an executive producer, navigates the emotional roller coaster of a young woman whose life has suddenly turned upside down and attempts to deal with it on her own terms. Hauer-King (the dashing prince in the live-action The Little Mermaid, and also in The Tattooist of Auschwitz) is no sleazy guy who gets lucky with two women and then walks away. You do feel for this poor guy as he tries to work it out with both. Cruz is also understated and appealing as someone who didn't have impending motherhood on her bingo card but now tries to make the best of it, and that takes an unexpected direction to be sure. As the comic relief, Connor's best friend Greg (Jaboukie Young-White) pops in and out, offering unwanted advice to his buddy.
The Threesome, having its world premiere today at SXSW, is looking for distribution and should find it in a market that could use a few good rom-coms right about now. This one is sweet, sexy and smart.
Producers are Tim White, Trevor White, Vince Jolivette and Steven Shapiro.
Title: The ThreesomeFestival: SXSW (Narrative Spotlight)Director: Chad HartiganScreenplay: Ethan OgilbyCast: Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, Ruby Cruz, Jaboukie Young-White, Josh SegarraSales agent: CAARunning time: 1 hr 51 mins
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