Drinking Buddies

**
UK Release Date: November 1st 2013

Luke and Kate are coworkers at a brewery who spend their nights drinking and flirting heavily. One weekend away together with their significant others proves who really belongs together and who doesn't.

Director: Joe Swanberg

Starring: Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston

WARNING: There is a spoiler at the end of this review.

A real positive from Drinking Buddies is that its blueprints don't follow the formulaic structure of romantic comedies. That's as positive as it gets. Instead, we're stuck with two frequently intoxicated people who both work at the same brewery, have affections for each other, yet struggle to express their feelings.

Drinking doesn't even bring out Kate (Wilde) and Luke's (Johnson) emotions. They're wild(e) enough. They'd rather sulk than act. For the most part they've got a drink in their hand. If they haven't then they either asleep or passed out from excessive drinking.

Kate and Luke may know how to have fun, but it's Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston's characters that are really enthralling. Jill (Kendrick) and Chris (Livingston) are the partners of Luke and Kate respectively, and it's not until the quartet decide to have a weekend away together that we (and they) know they're with the wrong partners. You can feel the tension between them. They're aching to be with each other. If it weren't for their complicated and immature other halves, and centred on them instead, then it would make for a quirky, yet slightly ordinary rom-com.

Students and young adults may enjoy the banter between the central couple. Personal preferences decide whether Drinking Buddies is a unique take of a rom-com or Luke and Kate should head to the nearest AA meeting. Others may find Luke and Kate need some growing up to do, and inevitably have little care for the film's outcome, which is just as disappointing as the rest of it.