Directed by: Nikole Beckwith
Starring: Ed Helms, Patti Harrison, Tig Notaro
The font for the opening credits is the same one used for Woody Allen's films since time immemorial. My curiosity was piqued. Would Together Together be a comedy in the Woody Allen tradition? It didn't take long for my curiosity to be unpiqued, which isn't a word but it fits the description of my emotions at the time.
The stars of Together Together are Ed Helms and Patti Harrison. They play Matt and Anna and have an unusual relationship. Matt is a divorced man who wants a child and Anna is the surrogate who will give birth to his baby. At first, their relationship is strictly business, but the more time they spend together the more they seem to like each other. Will they fall in love? Maybe. They talk, they laugh, they go to birthing classes together, they eat, they date. Helms and Harrison are likable actors and do their best with characters and dialogue which aren't nearly as appealing as they are.
We assume Together Together will lead to an inevitable and predictable payoff. We are wrong. A predictable payoff would at least be a payoff. Not that there is much to spoil, but the ending of Together Together doesn't allow for a payoff for all of the lackluster moments which came before it. There is a brief chat involving Allen between Matt and Anna in which Anna brings up the ick factor of Allen's Manhattan. Juxtaposed with the lettering of the title credits which were meant clearly as an homage to Allen, I was puzzled by dialogue which surely condemns Allen. I shouldn't be wondering where writer-director Beckwith stands on Woody Allen in the middle of the film she's trying to present.
Hey, at least puzzlement is a reaction. The rest of Together Together doesn't inspire much of anything else.
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