Dave Franco as Tim and Alison Brie as Millie in their highly entertaining new collaboration, Together.Germain McMicking/NEON
Together
Written and directed by Michael Shanks
Starring Dave Franco, Alison Brie and Damon Herriman
Classification 14A; 102 minutes
Opens in theatres Aug. 1
Critic’s Pick
The history of movies in which real-life couples play onscreen couples is as tumultuous and tense as the mood inside the Los Angeles County Superior Court office that handles divorce filings.
For every bracing and original work in which couples deftly exploit public curiosity for the purposes of complex cinema (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut), there are as many if not more flops (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Gigli, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in By the Sea).
Come to think of it, few couples have actually survived such a high-wire melding of life and art, a reality that Dave Franco and Alison Brie seem to be keenly aware of in their highly entertaining new collaboration, Together. Although the body-horror dramedy isn’t the first project to unite the pair – Franco directed his wife in the solid 2020 thriller The Rental, as well as the far more disappointing 2023 rom-com Somebody I Used to Know – it is the most potent fusion of the pair’s private and public lives any curious fan could possibly hope for. Oh, and it is exceptionally, wildly disgusting.
The death of the projection booth, and the beginning of a new kind of movie theatre
Writer-director Michael Shanks feature debut opens as Tim (Franco) and his long-time girlfriend Millie (Brie) are moving from the big city to the countryside. Tim is a floundering musician who is still recovering from the death of his parents (a seemingly bizarre incident that, in one of the movie’s few false moves, is only obliquely referenced), while Millie is a schoolteacher who has accepted a plum gig at a local schoolhouse.
Even before the couple encounter such unwelcome rural sights as, say, the rat’s nest in their new home’s attic or the strange symbols hanging on trees in the nearby woods, the mood between the pair is tense. Tim and Millie haven’t had sex in months, and resentment starts to build as Millie makes connections with her coworkers, including the charming teacher Jamie (Damon Herriman). Both recognize that they are drifting apart, which is when a random hike pulls them, well, together.
Together is the most potent fusion of the couple’s private and public lives any curious fan could possibly hope for.Germain McMicking/NEON
After falling into a cave during one rain-soaked expedition, Tim and Millie drink from a mysterious pool of water – never a good idea – after which they begin to develop … symptoms isn’t quite the right word. But let’s say that Tim is now inexplicably and inexorably drawn toward Millie, and her to him. So much so that even stepping a few feet away from one another becomes painfully impossible. And it only gets worse – and more bloody – from there.
There is nothing remotely subtle about Shanks’s central theme here –codependency is as alluring as it is unhealthy – but what makes Together such a thrilling ride is how much the director and his two stars embrace the big, gushy theatrics of it all. It takes a lot to make a film in which the sensual act of massaging Brie’s back becomes pure nightmare fuel, yet Together is such a sharp blend of the hilarious and the terrifying that it busts your gut at the same time it has you gritting your teeth.
Central to this pleasure-pain dynamic are Franco’s and Brie’s raw and committed performances, which surely resulted in some off-set couple’s therapy. While Franco, the younger brother of current Hollywood pariah James, has always been an ace comic player (21 Jump Street, Neighbors 2, The Disaster Artist), he has never been afforded as juicy a platform as the one that Shanks provides here. And Brie, consistently a wonderful presence in projects both great (Mad Men, Community, The Post) and not-so-much (Happiest Season, Freelance), grounds Millie in something achingly real, even when she’s wielding a chainsaw.
All that, and Together ends with one of the greatest needle drops ever. The film is so good, it’s even worth the inevitable divorce. Here’s to the happy couple. For now.