There’s something just a little more potent about Together. That’s because our leads, Dave Franco and Alison Brie, are a real life couple. That are both real life actors. With real life crazy movie/TV resumes. Watching a horror movie version of that relationship, plus a smart conceit, makes this late summer release sizzle more than it has any right to.
Franco and Brie play Tim and Millie. They’re at a stale/rocky part of their relationship, hoping a move to more rural living will get them out of whatever rut they’re in. On a hike near their house, the pair get lost in a storm, and stumble upon a weird cave, thirsty as their water ran out. Unfortunately they missed what happened a couple weeks earlier when a couple dogs drank that water leading to, um, strange consequences.
The metaphor is right there: codependency. Tim and Millie are so nostalgic and scared to give up what they once had, that they overlook growing red flags in their relationships. Despite the surreal circumstances, Michael Shanks’s script does a smart job showing a grounded version of a relationship that’s slowly turning toxic. At first it’s the little stuff: a death in the family has made Tim emotionally distant. As such, he doesn’t want to be intimate with Millie, who’s being sweet by giving Tim space but also slowly becoming frustrated her needs are not being met. Then a new friend Jamie (Damon Herriman) shows up, which excites Millie with any positive affection. That makes Tim get a little angrier/paranoid, forcing him to isolate and play music alone, further driving a rift between Millie and him. And yet, the attraction (in this case, superwater) is still down there somewhere for both, releasing in a fury of passion. But then we’re back where we started, as all those previous feelings/issues haven’t been resolved yet. Together can be too on the nose with it, but better to be clear than opaque so you can do really crazy codependent stuff later right?
The only way the movie works though is if you believe the couple at the center. Dave Franco and Alison Brie haven’t quite hit A-list status, but they’ve been around enough and are beloved enough to give this one a whirl. Their world feels lived in immediately, as they bounce off each other with ease. This is the positive case of a couple working together: their real life partnership is so strong that this is almost like a date night for them, getting to role play and do crazy sh*t for funsies. Brie has always been a daring performer, so I was sure she’d really sell what Together needs from her. Franco’s the revelation as a result, matching her with physical and emotional depth we don’t usually see from the frat boy.
So for those hoping for an Eyes Wide Shut decoupling, that’s not gonna happen. I don’t think Alison Brie and Dave Franco are codependent, but they are Together, and understand the difference between healthy and toxic relationship behavior, probably making their relationship stronger along the way. And a nice chuck of change I would imagine as well.