X
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 1 h 46 m
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 1 h 46 m
Summary Workaholic TV producer Ally (Alison Brie) faces a major professional setback, which sends her running to the comforts of her hometown. She spends a whirlwind evening reminiscing with her first love Sean (Jay Ellis), and starts to question everything about the person she's become. Things only get more confusing when she discovers Sean is ...
Directed By: Dave Franco
Written By: Alison Brie, Dave Franco
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 1 h 46 m
- 2023
- R
- Amazon Prime Video
- 1 h 46 m
Somebody I Used to Know
57
4.7
Where to Watch
Summary Workaholic TV producer Ally (Alison Brie) faces a major professional setback, which sends her running to the comforts of her hometown. She spends a whirlwind evening reminiscing with her first love Sean (Jay Ellis), and starts to question everything about the person she's become. Things only get more confusing when she discovers Sean is ...
Directed By: Dave Franco
Written By: Alison Brie, Dave Franco
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
57
56% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
39% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
57
56% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
39% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Somebody I Used To Know—like life—can’t be clearly defined. Instead, it embraces its messiness and unpredictability, and the very harsh reality that “life happens.”
There's a low-key charm to the movie's knowing spin on familiar beats, and far more chaotic non-sexual nudity than Julia Roberts would ever allow in her contract.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 User Ratings
4.7
11% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
72% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
17% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 User Ratings
4.7
11% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
72% Mixed
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
17% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Hey, Streamers! It’s mid-February, and it seems you either watch romantic comedies or you’re anticipating the Big Game. For those who aren’t into the latter, here’s some more counterprogramming courtesy of Prime Video and the minds of Dave Franco and Alison Brie, Somebody I Used to Know. It’s a “romantic” comedy involving wedding shenanigans, which we all love. Am I right??? Here’s whether you should know this somebody.
Dave Franco directs the screenplay he wrote with his wife and the movie’s star, Alison Brie. Somebody I Used to Know takes place over a few days in Leavenworth, Washington when Ally (Brie) returns to her mother’s home after her reality television show was canceled. While in town on day one, Ally predictably runs into her old flame, Sean (Jay Ellis), after ten years; and they seem to pick up right where they left off. Sean, of course, is hiding the big news of his impending wedding, which leads Ally to go full-on Julianne Potter (My Best Friend’s Wedding reference). Wedding sabotage hijinks ensue.
This storyline is so tiresome. How many times do we have to see a woman, usually, attempt to sabotage her ex’s wedding? Why would anyone think that’s going to turn out good for you in the end? Why would you even want someone who was easily manipulated by you? Is that satisfying? I have so many questions for this played-out genre.
Now, Somebody I Used to Know steps right into all of the problems with this genre of romantic comedy. It is predictable and unoriginal. In fact, it borrows so heavily from My Best Friend’s Wedding that I am now wondering if that was Franco and Brie’s objective. It is a shame that this movie feels so derivative because Alison Brie is generally a likeable screen presence. You can easily root for the characters she plays, even someone who is being so manipulative. The one good thing that Franco and Brie have added to this movie is a theme about self-empowerment. The screenplay revisits ideas about making oneself happy, and it is impactful at times. I wish those ideas had been more in the forefront than the wedding sabotage.
There really isn’t much else here. There’s a nice sing-along to look forward to. Haley Joel Osment and Danny Pudi get some good moments, but Osment, in particular, is so unnecessary. That’s all really. Eh. *Shrug*
Ultimately, Somebody I Used to Know is fine but too derivative, unoriginal and predictable to really be interesting. While the movie hints at other meaningful themes, it settles with the cliches of wedding sabotage movies to be its driving force. That’s pretty disappointing. Alison Brie is a pleasant on-screen presence and Haley Joel Osment gets some daffy moments. I’d only suggest a handful of popcorn for this if you need something to fill the time while waiting for Rihanna’s halftime show.
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Ah the mid-life crisis stories, where would we be without them?
I remember when Dave Franco delivered his first film almost three years ago I said in my review that he showed aptitude as a director but needed better scripts and this time he decided to write again, only this time he did it with his wife and again the leading actress.
In itself, Somebody I Used to Know hardly breaks any new ground as far as dramas/comedies of this type are concerned. The humor is more satirical, and the drama takes itself too seriously at times.
The final mix is not entirely gratifying in its lack of balance, but the film itself doesn't falter.
It's a sort of My Best Friend's Wedding that tries to be sharper because the concept goes more towards the idea of female empowerment where the two women won't be a prize for the man in question, which was a nice variation for a change.
It was regular kinda okay, but hardly satisfying.
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It’s not every day that you see a by-the-books rom-com squeezing in a semi-twist ending, and Franco does so in an admirably sneaky, cheeky, subtle way. Similarly, Somebody’s moments of genuine, heartfelt drama are bound to pull on your heartstrings.
Somebody I Used to Know doesn’t chalk up a failed relationship to circumstance or even bad choices. It’s simply the respectful endurance of love even though that person may not be “the one.”
Somebody I Used to Know comes dangerously close to being interesting. It’s a romantic comedy, but it’s almost a twisted drama about a seriously damaged creep who goes back to her hometown and starts wrecking people’s lives.
There’s not a single moment in the film that is palpably authentic or genuinely romantic, but the ensemble nonetheless puts their pluckiest foot forward.
The laughs are few and far between and the “heart,” so important to a good rom-com, is left out altogether.
Temos uma história a ser contada aqui (só não precisava ser de forma tão constrangedora). A personagem principal, Ally, apresenta um programa considerado de quinta categoria, e no intervalo entre as temporadas do show (na iminência de não ser renovado), ela tira férias e reencontra um antigo amor.
As caracterizações estão muito boas, os personagens são interessantes, até mesmo a sua rival (com quem faz um triângulo amoroso) tem uma história interessante a ser contada. O problema aqui é o capricho nos diálogos, que faltou. Tudo é de extremo mau gosto. Acontece bastante coisa, mas tudo é muito corrido. A cena com a mãe é ruim de doer. As piadas não funcionam. Há que se lembrar que os personagens são adultos, não são adolescentes, mas parece que os roteiristas esqueceram disso. São situações meio debilóides, e é uma pena, pois há sim um bom enredo, meio que oculto em toda essa bagunça.
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The 2 main characters here are so unlikeable, a lot of the side characters were good and it was well acted all around. An acceptable average first outing for Franco as director.
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(Mauro Lanari)
For Valentine's Day Alison Brie comes up with the idea that not being manipulative by getting naked should be understood in the literal sense, so she proposed to her director husband a script where she is a naturist and at 40 she can show off her body trying to turn us on as much as the actress who at 67 plays the role of her mother. I don't know in which parallel universe this film about toxic femininity can be classified as a rom-com. In the meantime, Pornhub gives thanks.
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Dave Franco's unofficial 'My Best Friend’s Wedding' remake. Alison Brie kind of saves the movie from being a total disaster.
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bad
[ bad ]
adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36.
not good in any manner or degree.
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