After Lake Bell established herself as a writer/director with a unique voice with 2013’s “In A World…,” we were definitely eager for what she might do next. Well, she’s back behind the camera with “I Do…Until I Don’t,” and we wish were a bit more excited about this one.
It’s never a great sign when an indie movie skips every big time festival — Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, L.A. Film Festival — and goes straight to cinemas, but that’s the case with this picture, which looks be a fairly standard rom-com about married life. Here’s the official synopsis:
In Vero Beach, Florida, a trio of couples at various points in their relationships become the subjects of a film about marriage being an antiquated idea that needs a reboot: Why not turn marriage into a seven-year deal with an option to renew?
For Alice and Noah (Lake Bell, Ed Helms), more than a hint of boredom is setting in as they approach their first decade together and the prospect of parenthood. Meanwhile, Alice’s funky sister Fanny (Amber Heard) is sure her “open marriage” to Zander (Wyatt Cenac) is the key to their free-spirited happiness. And then there’s Cybil and Harvey (Mary Steenburgen, Paul Reiser), a pair of empty-nesters wondering what the next stage will be.
As the manipulative filmmaker (Dolly Wells) attempts to show how marriage is outmoded, the couples she interviews discover the “do’s” and “don’t’s” in their own relationships.
Co-starring Ed Helms, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Reiser, Amber Heard, Wyatt Cenac, Dolly Wells, and Chace Crawford, “I Do…Until I Don’t” opens on September 1st.