Splitsville Review: Comedy Fails to Land
- A look at Michael Angelo Covino's latest film, examining its themes of marriage, infidelity, and the absurdities of modern masculinity.
- "Splitsville" lands at a moment when every comedy released to theaters feels like a battle cry, an attempt to defend audiences' rights to have a good time at...
- Directed by Michael Angelo Covino, who also produces, co-writes and co-stars alongside Kyle Marvin, the film continues the duo's comic exploration of bad choices, in which men predictably...
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Splitsville Review: A Complicated Exploration of Modern Relationships and Male Friendship
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A look at Michael Angelo Covino’s latest film, examining its themes of marriage, infidelity, and the absurdities of modern masculinity.
What Happened in Splitsville?
“Splitsville” lands at a moment when every comedy released to theaters feels like a battle cry, an attempt to defend audiences’ rights to have a good time at the movies.
Directed by Michael Angelo Covino, who also produces, co-writes and co-stars alongside Kyle Marvin, the film continues the duo’s comic exploration of bad choices, in which men predictably make poor decisions and are depicted as vain, infantile and often motivated by their worst impulses. (It’s funny as it’s true.)
As the movie begins, Carey (Marvin) is married to ashley (Arjona), who tells him she has been seeing other people and wants a divorce. He seeks solace from his best friend Paul (Covino) and his wife, Julie (Johnson), who tell Carey they are in an open relationship. soon Carey sleeps with Julie and all sorts of jealousies and complicated feelings arise among the four of them.
what Does Splitsville Mean? A Deeper Dive
“Splitsville” – the title appears briefly onscreen as the neon sign of a dessert stand – is outwardly a satire of bourgeois aspirations, modern marriage and how no one really understands the dynamics of what goes on with other couples. But the film is actually more concerned with the absurdities of male friendship, to the extent that Covino and Marvin are perennially enamored of themselves and can’t help from centering their own antics.
Their previous movie, “The Climb,” was also about two friends locked into an up-and-down relationship alternating between of moments of betrayal and gestures of support. While they are not playing the same specific characters from “The Climb,” they are very much playing the same type. Covino is seemingly more smooth and together, though riddled with insecurities, while Marvin initially appears hapless and vulnerable, with an emotional intelligence that reveals him to be savvier than he first appears. So they basically meet in the middle.
The entire movie has a disappointing air of smug self-regard about it, with an expectation the audience will adore everything about the