Name: Somebody I Used To Know
Director: Dave Franco
Released: 2023-02-10T13:30:00

In Somebody I Used to Know, Ally, a workaholic woman, visits her home town and a certain encounter leaves her questioning the choices of the past. The romantic comedy film is now streaming on Prime Video.

Story

Ally (Allison Brie) is running a dessert reality show called Dessert Island which does not have the best reputation. It is known for the contestants sleeping with each other, not the desserts they create. She is unsatisfied with this, as she had always wanted to work on documentaries.

When the show gets cancelled after season 3, Ally begins to contemplate whether she made the right choice with pursuing her career and leaving her home town, Leavenworth.

A return to Leavenworth results in her meeting Sean (Jay Ellis), her ex-boyfriend whom she had left for a career in filmmaking in a bigger city. Sean, on the other hand, didn’t want to leave the town.

After they spend time with each other, Ally starts feeling that she might have made a mistake and tries to get back together with him.

However, the situation complicates when Sean is revealed to be engaged and about to get married to Cassidy (Kiersey Clemons).

Ally tries to come in between the two and win him back. She also gets the news of Dessert Island being renewed for season 4 on a streaming service.

Will Ally leave and accept her new role? Will she stick around and get back with Sean? Or will she take a completely different route?

Performances

Allison Brie breezes through the film and is extremely comfortable with her character, who isn’t your everyday woman.

Her on-screen reunion with Community co-actor Danny Pudi, who plays Ally and Sean’s mutual friend Benny, is definitely a treat for the fans of the show.

Clemons also impresses as Cassidy, but the rest of the characters lack any depth and are your typical rom-com personas.

Positives

Although it feels like Somebody I Used To Know is following a cliched narrative, you slowly realise that this is not remotely the case.

Ally and Sean’s relationship is messy, complicated and impulsive, much like how they are in real life. It’s not sugarcoated as a fairytale romance.

And although their mutual attraction is obvious, the film is never about that. It’s the story of Ally coming to terms with herself.

The narrative is about loving yourself, and not somebody else. Ally understands the worth of this through her own share of mistakes.

Ally’s character development is also praiseworthy. Although she obsesses over an ex for most of the film, there is a rewarding sense of maturity visible in her at the end.

Negatives

Ally’s career as a filmmaker in Hollywood is reduced to caricature. The whole ‘Dessert Island’ parody of reality shows never lands and isn’t humorous at all.

The fact that Ally is stuck in a job that she does not enjoy should have been shown through exploring her personality and aspirations instead of taking the easy way and making her job a joke.

Verdict

Somebody That I Used to know is a rom-com for all single people out there. If you need a bit of encouragement to love yourself, this film will be more relatable than most unrealistic rom-coms out there.