Drinking Buddies revels in the silence between conversations. The love triangle between Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, and Jake Johnson is a well acted and keenly observed study of relationships of many sorts. Plus it takes place in a brewery in Chicago.
Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) have clearly been chumming it up in the bars over beers for years. There is obviously a little romantic past between them, but the sparks still remain. Both have romantic attachments though: Luke is engaged with Jill (Anna Kendrick) and Kate has been dating Chris (Ron Livingston) for a year. After an ill-fated camping trip, Kate starts spending more time with Luke, and Jill has a secret she doesn’t want to tell Luke which causes some friction in their already stagnant relationship.
Drinking Buddies is one of the best showcases of different types of modern male-female relationships. Gender roles have evolved to the point where a girl can be one of the guys, and Drinking Buddies delineates the difference between a love interest and a buddy very well. Luke and Kate clearly have a strong social connection, a much stronger one than Luke and Jill. However, when the concept of core values is brought up, Jill and Luke more closely align. Kate lives for the party, but Luke and Jill understand how to take care of a person and regard that trait in high esteem.
Drinking Buddies is a movie that revels in the in-between, the silent subtle movements that reveal a person’s true intentions rather than just words. Modern flirting closely models the scenes in Drinking Buddies. When Kate gets lonely, she flirts with Luke or Chris by some cute little touch or sigh. She’ll insert herself to Jill and Luke’s apartment for dinner under the guise of recovering from a breakup and try to “win” the night against Jill for Luke’s attention. What makes Drinking Buddies different is that Luke doesn’t find it wrong to hang out with Kate in some very compromising ways because he knows his boundaries and where his heart really lies; she’s a friend and will never be more than one.
I was in the tank for Drinking Buddies because of the 4 principals. Ron Livingston is mostly used as a plot device here, but he gets a couple decent character beats. Anna Kendrick continues her streak of being the most adorable girl in a movie. Every little conversation she has is usually 1 part funny and two parts earnest. She could so easily have fallen into the bitchy girlfriend role and her perky optimistic charisma and likeability make Jill into a solid complicated character. Jake Johnson leaves New Girl to play a bearded version of his character on that show. Johnson is a more talented actor than meets the eye; he can play drunk very well, but he also hits all the necessary emotional beats with Jill and Kate to make all of their scenes work. In short, Johnson is the glue of Drinking Buddies. Olivia Wilde is the revelation. I knew she was a pretty good actress in bit parts here and there, but in Drinking Buddies, she is really forced to act out how she feels without words. She carries most of the scenes she is in, walking the line between melancholy and comedy very easily. Wilde has played some sexy characters in her shows before, but Drinking Buddies showcases her flirting ability so well that we all would have forgiven Luke for succumbing to her advances.
Drinking Buddies doesn’t really end but just sort of stops, as is true of most life stories. Writer Director Joe Swanberg captures day in the life relationships of young adults in a city very well without becoming too self-important. He also untapped a great way to get actors to sign up for his films: set the backdrop of the story in a brewery so you can drink all day while filming. Will work for beer takes on a new meaning in Drinking Buddies.