About Alex Synopsis: When a group of old college friends reunite over a long weekend after one of them attempts suicide, old crushes and resentments shine light on their life decisions, and ultimately push friendships and relationships to the brink.
I love ensemble dramas and dramedies. Throw in the plot point of old friends coming together for a weekend of reminiscing, and I’m totally on board. The challenge is making an ensemble film truly feel like an ensemble film. So often, certain characters get overlooked, which makes them feel like props to make the other characters more interesting.
If I’m going to watch a reunion movie, I want to know more about these characters before the reunion. I don’t want to be told about what happened in college; I want to see it. I understand this can be difficult in a movie that only runs 96 minutes long, but all I know are the characters as they are portrayed now, so it’s always been difficult for me to care about their past when it comes out in humor or monologues.
About Alex revolves around a small group of friends who come together over a weekend to support their friend Alex (Jason Ritter), who attempted suicide. This includes a couple, Siri (Maggie Grace) and Ben (Nate Parker), who had been receiving and ignoring Alex’s calls the entire week leading up to Alex’s breakdown.
Sarah (Aubrey Plaza), a mergers and acquisitions lawyer whose real passion is cooking. Josh (Max Greenfield), an abrasive Ph.D. candidate who considers himself a “truthteller,” and Isaac (Max Minghella), a successful businessman. Isaac also brings along his girlfriend, Kate (Jane Levy), who works for a suicide prevention hotline.
As the group tiptoes around the reasons behind Alex’s suicide attempt, their reunion also reignites old resentments and flirtations. As is usually the case with such close friends of the opposite sex, this boy likes that girl but sleeps with this girl who likes that other boy who only sees her as a friend, and so on. About Alex follows a very formulaic path that invokes The Big Chill (and references it at the dinner table). Still, the strength of the performances by the cast carries the majority of the weight here.
They were all great, and it was nice to see Aubrey Plaza playing a role that wasn’t a knockoff of April Ludgate (Parks and Recreation). Jane Levy was sweet and provided much comedic relief when her character gets stoned. Max Greenfield plays an asshole well, and Jason Ritter is effective as Alex…. it’s never explicitly said, but the obvious implication of his unrequited love for one of his friends is heartbreaking. I would have liked to have seen more of Max Minghella, but he was charming in the screen time he did have.
These characters were at least likable, more so than many other ensemble films I’ve seen, but I don’t think About Alex dives as deep into their issues as it could have, and some of the subplots were dealt with way too quickly and too easily for my liking. 99 minutes may seem sufficient, but this movie would have worked better at two hours. That being said, I did enjoy it, and despite the weak script, I think the cast brought About Alex together and made it worth the watch. The ensemble was terrific, and their chemistry was on point. I did believe they had a history with each other, I wish I could have seen what that was.
Watched: 11/12/2019
Notable Song: Won’t You Come Over by Devendra Banhart
