Joe Swanberg is one of the most prominent figures to rise out of the recent “mumblecore” film scene in the US. Working fast, with tiny budgets and making largely improvised, personal and challenging films he established a solid following for his work.
For Drinking Buddies, Swanberg steps up to a new level, working with a much larger budget, a well known cast and larger production crew, including Beasts Of The Southern Wild cinematographer Ben Richardson and Tiny Furniture producer Alicia Van Couvering.
Olivia Wilde plays Kate, a laid back office worker in a Chicago microbrewery. Jake Johnson plays Luke, a co-worker with whom she has a very warm friendship. For the hipsterish brewery workers (which include Jason Sudeikis as their boss, Gene Dentler) beer is more than just a job; drinking and socialising are a key part of life.
However, Kate and Luke go home to separate loves. Luke is in a serious, long term relationships with Jill (Anna Kendrick). They are at that awkward, “talking about whether they can commit to the idea of getting married one day” phase in their relationship.
Kate is seeing Chris (Ron Livingston) who is not really a beer drinker at all, preferring wine or even scotch. In a metaphor for the whole film, their different preferences in drinks speak to the way they seem mismatched as couple, not just aesthetically but culturally as well.
In fact, beer is almost the star of the film, with an open bottle or poured cup of beer in nearly every shot. And, there’s a subtle homage to the US craft beer scene that acts as a backdrop to the film and each character’s choice in beer and how much they drink (Jill can never keep pace with Kate) seems to reflect their personality.
By the time the couples go on a weekend away together, towards the end of the first act, it’s clear the match-ups are less than perfect. Kate and Luke seem so compatible and yet, something is missing, something holds them back.
Up until this point, Drinking Buddies feels like a conventional, if somewhat low-key romantic comedy. But, by the second act the story shifts, becomes much funnier and in some ways veers closer to a buddy film, two friends trying to help each other through less than perfect lives. The way Drinking Buddies blurs the distinction between these two genres mirrors the boundary issues and relational issues Kate and Luke face.
Swanberg is clearly a prolific and prodigious talent and there is no doubt we will be seeing a lot more from him in the coming years. Drinking Buddies is a confident piece of film-making, that manages to infuse a lot of structure and careful composition into what are mostly improvised performances.
Drinking Buddies is not a demanding film to watch. The light, good-humoured nature of the story might even put some film-goers off. But, this is substantially fresher, more humane and interesting than many other recent, navel-gazing 30-something comedies from the US. By the time our time with Kate and Luke ends, in a lovely, subtle closing scene, we feel as though important relationship issues have been raised and explored in a satisfying, amusing and non-confrontational way.
