Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Our Friend accomplishes the incredibly difficult task of making a depressing drama not overly melodramatic or saccharine. One of the film’s leads, Casey Affleck, is no stranger to weepy dramas, as he won Best Actor at the Oscars for Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea (2016). The other two co-stars, Dakota Johnson and Jason Segel, are a bit new to the genre. Johnson is famous for the erotic schlock of the Fifty Shades movies, and Segel is a vet of Judd Apatow-produced projects like NBC’s “Freaks and Geeks” (1999-2000) and Nicholas Stoller’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008). Our Friend — now available on Amazon Prime — very much feels along the lines of indie dramas from filmmakers like Lonergan or Nicole Holofcener at first, but finds its own voice by the end.
Told through a non-linear narrative over a six year period from 2008-2014, Cowperthwaite’s movie follows Matt (Affleck) and Nicole Teague (Johnson) after settling in Fairhope, AL with their two young daughters Molly (Isabella Rice) and Evie (Violet McGraw). Matt is struggling to get his journalism career off the ground and outside of local publications, while Nicole is a community musical theatre actress when she’s not with the family. Things begin hitting a few bumps when Matt keeps being assigned articles out of town and Nicole gets some really bad news from the doctor. The couple’s new (but instantly close) friend Dane (Segel) is always around to help since he’s great with the kids and a good shoulder to lean on.
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Gwendoline Christie, Cherry Jones, Jake Owen and Denée Benton co-star as friends of the Teagues and Dane. Our Friend actually reminds me a lot of David Frankel’s Marley & Me (2008) more than Lonergan’s or Holofcener’s work. Both movies center on ordinary, happy families going through ups and downs of life before tragedy strikes through the eyes of someone close by. But rather than a goofy dog, it’s a self-aware goofy neighbor. Both features are also based on real stories originally written as popular articles by the fathers of the families. I’ve seen a common criticism that Our Friend feels like a TV movie-of-the-week with higher production values. On the surface, I think this is true. Brad Ingelsby’s script doesn’t add anything unique or new to this type of story, other than the non-linear structure, which is effective. The real stand-out here is the performance by Jason Segel, who has been trying to branch out with his acting since James Ponsoldt’s underrated The End of the Tour (2015). His delivery and mannerisms are perfect for portraying a friendly guy who means well and successfully isn’t clingy, yet for whatever reason can’t get his own life together.
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Our Friend follows Cowperthwaite’s popular documentary Blackfish (2013) and the biopic Megan Leavey (2017), and is enough potential for me to want to see where she goes next with her career.
Have you seen Our Friend? Did you tear up at any moment? Let us know in the comments!
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