Joe Swanberg grew up in the same place I did. So naturally, his mumblecore moviemaking worked for me because I know it well. But Swanberg’s grown up, and graduated from that style now. Fortunately, The Sun Never Sets shows that he took the best parts of those earlier films while removing some of the cutesy twee smugness they can carry at their worst. Especially the beer, even in Alaska.
Swanberg trades Chicago for the 49th State. Up there, Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is in a committed relationship with Jack (Jake Johnson), divorced, 15 years her senior with two kids whom Wendy loves. When Wendy’s last childless friend Lindsay (Debbie Ryan) announces she’s pregnant, Jack worries Wendy will start resenting the fact that he doesn’t want more kids. He actively pushes her into a break from their relationship for the summer to make sure this relationship is what she wants. Bad timing, because Wendy’s ex Chuck (Cory Michael Smith) has just moved back into town, as a pilot, more grown up than the last time they were together.
The Sun Never Sets is so wonderfully human and messy. The title obviously has the double meaning of the Alaska setting, but how relationships don’t work like movies suggest. There’s always residual feelings left over, that no one really anticipates. When Wendy tells Jack that she’s gonna start seeing Chuck, Jack loses his mind, completely 180ing on his “relationship pause” and ready to settle down with Wendy immediately. But now Wendy’s completely trapped between her past an present, with no idea what comes next. She has feelings for both flawed men, gravitating from one to the other as the summer goes on. But that gray area makes everyone go crazier, and starts taking in collateral damage, like poor Sara (Karley Sciortino) who starts dating one of the men too. Heck, Jack’s ex wife Elizabeth (Anna Konkle) is ever present helping coparent the kids Jake and Wendy are also helping raise. Swanberg’s script makes these conversations honest but breezy, keeping the stakes low but resembling very real life discussions I’ve had with people I’ve been involved with.
Let’s welcome Dakota Fanning to the world of adult movies. That’s obviously a joke, but her performance is not. She’s as good as ever in a role I’ve never seen her act in before: empathetic but aimless, someone very recognizable and relatable. Even as Wendy’s making bad decisions, Fanning sells why the character would, and only makes us love her more for it. Jake Johnson’s now done multiple Swanberg movies and just gets the guy. His Jack on the page could so easily come off like a pretentious ahole, but Johnson’s performance gives the father manboy a wonderfully comedic stupefying energy that keeps The Sun Never Sets as chill as its going for. Every scene Johnson is in he nails, coming off needy and desperate but somehow not off putting. Cory Michael Smith is in the dramatic story Johnson is not; he’s the strong silent type, looking Alaska hot for Fanning to fawn at. It’s a nice juxtaposition with the Jack relationship, but it has diminishing returns as the more we learn the less interesting a foil Chuck becomes.
Hey, if you start feeling yourself fidgeting in your seat as The Sun Never Sets goes on, there’s gonna be one or two incredible drone shots or superbly located camping scenes showcasing how incredible Alaska is. That stellar backdrop gives every movie it’s in a 10% boost of some kind. In Joe Swanberg’s case, it’s melancholic romanticism. With a side of Nick from New Girl.