Monogamy

So I saw this movie right after Ira & Abby because Netflix told me to. It had Chris Messina and Rashida Jones in the lead roles and promised to be a steamy suspenseful movie, according to the trailer. It is an indie film from a second-time director and it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival back in 2010 and was picked up for distribution last year. Unfortunately, it's widest release was only to 5 theaters.

The movie is about an engaged couple living in New York, played by Messina and Jones. Messina's character is a photographer who's clients hire him to secretly stalk them and take conspicuous pictures of them. He soon becomes infatuated with one of his clients and must confront his relationship with his fiance, played by Jones.

While the premise of the movie doesn't make a whole lot of sense; i.e. who really hires someone to take secret pictures of themselves? Weird. That whole batch of nonsense could've been removed from the movie in actuality and the focus could have (should have) remained on the two leads. But alas, they did not consult me when drafting the script. Even with the 'suspense' part of the script left it, it does provide the catalyst needed for Messina's character to confront his true feelings towards his imminent marriage. The character played by Jones was very well written and a pretty awesome chick. Messina's, not so much. The trailer tries to trick you into thinking you're getting into a fatal attraction type movie, but the 'suspense' in this movie felt forced and unrealistic. I would've preferred a character study of the two leads.

The movie had all of the indie ingredients - shallow depth of field, indie soundtrack, artsy lead characters. It was nice. Again, I think the director tried to focus on the suspense part of the movie and could've played up the cinematography some more, but nothing was below par.

As an avid Office and Parks and Rec fan, I am of course a huge Rashida Jones fan. She was pretty awesome in this movie and it was nice to see her in a lead role. She's really able to play her roles with an air of realism to them. Messina did a great job as well, even if his character developed into something undesirable as the movie went along. He was able to convey his character's insecurities without being overly dramatic about it.

Well, in the end it was an ok movie. The song that Rashida Jones sings was probably the best part of the movie, and ironically pretty much summed up the entire plot. The trailer will have to believe this movie is going to be a steamy suspenseful thriller. There was no steam and the 'suspense' was artificial. It was still enjoyable to watch the two main characters in their scenes together. "I don't wanna let you down but I gotta let you go. Nothing left to do there's nothing left to say, I never really lived her anyway".