Ben (Silicon Valley star Thomas
Middleditch) is depressed. In fact, Jason James’ dark comedy
Entanglement begins with montage of failed suicide attempts.
Fortunately, Ben’s too inept to die—he tries to gas himself with an exhaust
pipe, but a kid steals his car; he takes a bath with a toaster, but forgets to
plug it in; when he succeeds in slitting his wrists, he gets up to answer the
front door.
In the midst of his misery, he meets Hanna (Jess Weixler,
Teeth), the manic pixie dream girl of his dreams, and
through sheer quirky force of will, she drags him out of his funk. Here’s the
kicker: Hanna was briefly almost his sister. Ben’s parents, thinking they
couldn’t have children, adopted an infant girl. That very day, they learned
they were pregnant with Ben and the adoption agency made them give back the
baby. I don’t know how legit that is, but I have zero clue how adoption
agencies operate, so what the hell.
Jason Filiatrault’s script skirts perilously close to overused
indie rom-com traps, though it’s strange enough to differentiate itself and ultimately
moves in refreshing ways. We’ve seen this adorably twee meet-cute time and
again—antisocial weirdo guy meets vivacious woman who instantly likes him for
vague reasons and teaches him how to live. But as familiar as Ben and Jess’ perky
courtship plays, the fact that we know what we know colors the rest of their
relationship. Entanglement further upends the usual genre
tropes in dark, off-kilter fashion, with flourishes of magical realism—animated
deer, talking puppets, messages spelled out in soup—all augmented by a do-wop
heavy soundtrack.
Ben’s not always an easy character to root for. He’s
incredibly self-centered and in true movie fashion, somehow has a nice ass apartment
and friends, despite being unemployed and a miserable prick. In conversation with
Hanna and even his neighbor, Tabby (a wonderfully harried Diana Bang), he never
listens to a word anyone says. And sure, his wife left him and his parents are
neurotic, but for all of his woe-is-me shtick and depressive spiral, nothing
all that bad has ever happened to him, though he paints every broken shoelace
as tragedy.
It’s really down to Middleditch that
Entanglement doesn’t bog down and entirely become
Sad Straight White Dude Learns a Lesson: The Movie. A misanthropic
nerd, he has an affable charm that balances out his dark, sarcastic gallows
humor. This is a guy willing to have a verbal throwdown with a tween in the
lobby of a therapist’s office, so making him sympathetic and relatable isn’t
the easiest feat.
Though she plays a familiar character type, Weixler has a
look-at-me star quality. (A quick comparison is Jennifer Lawrence, as the two
have a similar look and voice.) She and Middleditch have a breezy chemistry,
and though their relationship hits recognizable beats, it’s a smooth, engaging
watch.
While Entanglement splashes—often
literally, as a water theme permeates the film—around in familiar territory,
the “You were almost my sister” set up and the back end of the story make the
movie stand out. After cute-ing it up for a bit, the narrative shifts and an
almost Memento-style psychological mystery drives the final
act. To say more than that does the film a disservice—go in as cold as you
can—but the intricate groundwork laid early on pays off.
Entanglement doesn’t break the indie
rom-com mold, but it warps that framework enough to provide intrigue. The
everything-is-connected ending may be a bit too tidy, but James’ film never
takes the most obvious direction, and the result is a modest, enjoyable charmer.
[Grade: B]
Entanglement makes its world premiere at
the Seattle International Film Festival on Friday, May 19.
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