Together Together
Review by Myla Tosatto
Ah, Spring. The time when the rain falls, the flowers bloom, allergies rage, pollens dumps its guts all over every surface, and movie studios put out “cute” and “quirky” indies like Together Together. This movie stars Ed Helms as Matt, a single tech guy in his forties who wants to have a child, and Patti Harrison as Anna, the younger woman he hires to be the surrogate for his baby. Since this isn’t the traditional storyline employed to tell a surrogate story, the relationship between Matt and Anna becomes even more focused in Together Together. Matt and Anna are two single, lonely adults (though not in the same generation) with much in common, like their lack of love lives and distance from their families, but not a lot in common either. Their relationship in the movie unfolds like Anna’s pregnancy: it’s exciting and new, routine and mundane, and then after the birth, gone.
Both actors are terrific in Together Together. Ed Helms tones down his EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME persona to give Matt a huge (if overbearing) heart and Patti Harrison (who you may have caught on Shrill and if you haven’t, go ahead and do so now) is fiercely but quietly strong, smart, and independent. Together Together is full of strong comedy voices even if the movie isn’t a laugh-out-loud yuck fest. It has more of a soft, gentle comedy vibe so the use of comedy greats like Tig Notaro, Nora Dunn, Julio Torres, Fred Melamed, and Sufe Bradshaw is intriguing, and they are perfect supporting actors for the movie.
Together Together is a movie about connections and relationships and how important they are. Writer/director Nikole Beckwith has come up with a great little film studying bonds, single parenthood, families, feminism, and clogs in a fresh new way.
Leave a Reply