Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg star in a rom com that fails to achieve its quirky ambitions
Between the tween title, the obnoxiously clichéd opening (we're talking photobooth funtimes and initials in the sand) and the over familiar character arc that sees an ambitious, confused Rashida Jones dump her cute high-school sweetheart husband of 6 years before she realises her mistake; there are some surprisingly funny moments and some intimate directorial moves in Celeste and Jesse Forever. Sadly, they still fail to make up for the rest of this clichéd mess.
The USP for this one is the idea that despite their impending divorce, Celeste (Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) are still best friends with enduring in-jokes and an unbreakable bond. That might be an interesting premise to navigate if it were properly explored. It could be a comment on marriage and its modern relevance and requirements, it could be a 21st century take on enduring love, it could even be saying something about our confused ideals or something. But in this story by writers Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, we see Celeste launch into some fairly predictable lesson learning as she discovers she's a bit too much of a hardass and maybe ought to take her witty but overwhelming contempt of the masses down a bit.
She goes on a few bad dates with hot men and one spectacularly bad date with a normal looking guy before she bumps heads with Emma Roberts, a talentless popstar who soon proves her worth and helps Celeste on the way to her epiphany. Yay! But that's only because Celeste is forced (by capitalism, grrrr!) to market Robert's new album despite the ethos of her holier-than-thou company which she runs in partnership with gay best friend Elijah Wood. Do you see what I mean about the predictable thing?
Celeste and Jesse doesn't have as quirky a facade as its creators might think despite director Lee Toldand Kreiger's sustained intimate shots and alluring, woozy camera work. But in its defence, I do enjoy, for a while, how passive the two protagonists are about their own relationship. It doesn't make them likeable but it does make them more palatable. And the film does spit out the occasional decent one-liner - “Zooleisha? That's not a word, that's the name of my hoochie cousin!” (hipster racism?) - but it tends to trundle on with little that really grabs you. Except maybe Andy Samberg who putzes his way through life but somehow makes it work unlike his workaholic wife. His scenes with Jones show they have the potential to be a seriously disarming couple if given half the chance. Shame they never are.
Celest and Jesse Forever is released in the UK on 7th December 2012
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