Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy Run Time: 1 hours, 41 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Jordan Carlos, Jason Mantzoukas, Amanda Peet, Adam Scott, Natasha Lyonne Written and Directed by Leslie Headland (Bachelorette) Jake (Jason Sudeikis) is called a womanizer. Lainey (Alison Brie) is called a whore. The two of them meet and fall deep into...something...and that's the premise of the only-average, mildly funny rom-com, Sleeping With Other People (opening today). It could have been worse. Just take it from writer/director Leslie Headland, whose first feature film, Bachelorette, was a painfully unfunny disaster. She corrects course a bit with this story, which still revolves around some unlikeable characters but this time opts to ditch the mean-spirited comedy found in her first film. It is perfectly cast, with the likeable leading man Sudeikis playing an intelligent version of the douche he normally portrays, and with Brie being so darned cute and likeable, you almost forgive the fact that she is a totally obsessive floozy.
The big twist in the story is that these two actually met back in college at Columbia, and lost their virginity to each other. Flash forward several years, and they run into each other at - of all places - a sex addiction meeting. Lainey is still infatuated with her college boyfriend (a strangely flat Adam Scott), but each of their token friends (Natasha Lyonne for Brie, and Jason Mantzoukas for Sudeikis) urge them to pursue each other. We know right where this story is going from the minute we first meet both of them, and wouldn't you know, we end up being right. Surprisingly though, the movie continues on for about another 15 minutes past where most romantic comedies would end, and in doing so cranks up the cheese factor to new heights. "I wonder if these two will get together in the end!" is something that no one has ever had cross their mind - ever - while watching a romantic comedy. Headland though, does create some good situational comedy and relies heavily on her two leads. Both Sudeikis and Brie have a lot of chemistry, and a lot of funny lines. In fact, the comedy in the film is not all that bad - it might just be funny enough to keep other parts of the film from sinking - but it can't find a good use for some of its side characters, mainly Scott and Mantzoukas (the latter of which is so naturally funny and waiting for a starring vehicle...perhaps the funniest portion of the film comes during the end credits with some outtakes from Mantzoukas and his on-screen wife, played by Andrea Savage). It also exists only in the romantic comedy fantasy world. No other characters exist, there is no family on either side to speak of. Each have that one friend they go to to complain about the other person. And in this particular case, we are dealing with two people who are real sex addicts, so I'm not sure that it's love that they fall into eventually. Taking into account both of their pasts, the film also doesn't leave you with a very warm "they lived happily ever after" vibe. Sleeping with other people, the concept, is only a funny topic if you or a loved one isn't taking part in it, and even then I'm not sure its ripe for comedy. Sleeping With Other People, the movie, is just a dirty, sometimes clever romantic comedy that does nothing to set itself apart from the thousands of other movies it now exists with in its genre. Like one of Jake or Lainey's many conquests, this one will be forgotten by morning.
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