Between Us

"Between Us" is a relationship drama. Two thirty-something couples, all friends, have ended up in slightly different places in life, but they are all determined to get through their relationships together. Except, they really don't care. The first weekend, Grace (Julia Stiles) and Carlo (Taye Diggs) visit the more successful Joel (David Harbour) and Sharyl (Melissa George). What is obvious to everyone else is that Joel and Sharyl are putting up a fake façade to hide their unhappiness.

Grace and Carlo are both, simultaneously, unaware of their best friends' unhappiness and uncaring so much that they don't care to do anything about it. Except complain. They're not being perfect enough hosts for their liking.

In the future, making it clear that there has been a falling out between these friends, Joel and Sharyl visit Grace and Carlo in their small New York apartment. Joel and Sharyl are still putting up a fake façade, but this time about pretending to like their former friends. Grace doesn't care.

"Between Us" has been compared to Carnage. Both films are driven by dialogue between two couples, but that is where the similarity ends. "Between Us" has no comedy and the characters are so ridiculously boring, that I don't care about them. And I shouldn't, they don't care about themselves or anybody else.

There is supposed to be a thriller element, keeping us in an air of suspense as to why these two couples, and best friends, have had a falling out. But this fails for many reasons: there is nothing interesting about this falling out, and they don't really act like friends in the first place, so there is no suspense.

Boring people in uncaring friendships and relationships make "Between Us" a very boring and pointless film.

Who Might Like This: People who like slow-paced relationship dramas; people who don't mind script-less dialogue-driven films; adults who want to see unhappy relationships evolve/de-evolve.

Ugh... How could any of these people have any connection to each other (or anyone else for that matter) in any way. It's an hour and a half of 4 people that hate each other yelling and being altogether horrible. No one maintains relationships this caustic. These are characters that you'd politely excuse yourself from the first time you meet but never forget. The only people that could possibly like this movie are self-loathing masochists or schadenfreude narcissists. The only redeeming quality of this film is that it does make you think about your own relationships and you feel great that even the rickety ones are at least somewhat tolerable.

In what might be the best first line of a movie, Julia Stiles opens her door and lets a multitude of expressions pass over her face. "I gotta say, it's a little strange having you two show up at our doorstep like this."

We then see the unfolding of two disastrous dinner parties between two couples, Taye Diggs and Julia Stiles, and David Harbour and Melissa George. The film intercuts between the first party hosted at one house two years earlier and an impromptu get-together at the other couple's apartment during the present time. Intense, wordy, real, and extremely well-acted, it's easy to imagine Joe Hortua's words written for and performed on the stage. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this movie nearly as much as I did. Sometimes I find movies that are very "play-ish" to be unrealistic and superior. Between Us was so real, I felt as if I should apologize for eavesdropping. The four actors bare their souls to the camera, admit secrets, and cry at their lost youths and crumbling marriages. It's a very common theme now (even though this movie is nearly ten years old) to focus on 30-somethings who regret having children and settling down. There are people who don't like that theme, for whatever reason, and those viewers should absolutely stay away. Anyone who does like that subgenre, I highly recommend this heavy drama. It's exposing and uncomfortable, personal yet vague, and intimate even though it's a feature film that (ideally) would be shown to millions.

The movie is based on a play, that is to say it's basically a lay in film form. Like so many plays, and play based movies, it revolves around couples and relationships and I'm getting somewhat tired of the recurring theme. It seems most of these moves are pretty much the same, sure they have different situations and settings, but the basic dialogs are the same, and that's exactly the case here. The movie/play juxtaposes 2 couples at different time in their life and deals with issues such as the frustration of long term relationships, finance, life choices, urban living vs. the country.....ordinary stuff which you've no doubt come across before and that isn't taken to new heights here. Some of the scenes are laughably over the top and that just really pulls you out of the moment and makes you doubt the credibility of the story and the characters. Apart from that the acting and directing was great, David Harbour was especially good although Melissa George was bland through most of it, bad casting perhaps. In short, watch this if you like quasi intellectual relationship plays.

Let's be clear: This is not an easy movie to watch. Like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or (more recently) Carnage, Between Us almost seems to revel in exposing the nastier side of human nature. We're given a ringside seat at an emotional slugfest as a pair of (nominally friendly) couples eviscerate themselves and each other at a series of ill-advised dinner parties. Once the wine starts to loosen tongues and inhibitions, verbal sparring quickly escalates into full-on psychological warfare -- the 'take no prisoners' kind. And trust me: There's more genuine violence in this movie than the entire third act of Man of Steel -- it's just that here the characters are clobbered with words, not skyscrapers.

In short: If you like Who's Afraid...? and Carnage, then Between Us is a must-see.