Literally, Right Before Aaron Synopsis: Still reeling from his breakup with college sweetheart Allison, Adam’s world is thrown into further chaos when he’s surprisingly invited to attend her wedding.
Adam (Justin Long) gets a phone call from Allison (Cobie Smulders), his ex of eight years, inviting him to her wedding. Cue romantic, beautifully filtered flashbacks of Adam and Allison’s relationship – including their first meeting where Adam spoils the ending of Allison’s book so she’ll have the time to go out with him – no, no, no. That’s a red flag right there!
Adam begins to spiral, leading him down a path of disastrous choices to finally get over his college sweetheart before she walks down the aisle.
I might have missed a couple, but there are plenty of characters in this film who call Justin Long’s ‘Adam’ an asshole, and they’re not wrong. One problem is while the film wants to play on the ‘flawed romantic lead’ that we’re supposed to sympathize with and root for, Adam is just… well, an asshole.
I would list all the ways he’s horrible, but I’d rather not relive those moments. I don’t know that I was terribly fond of Allison either because, honestly, what woman would invite her ex-boyfriend of EIGHT YEARS to her wedding?
The cast was amazing (and the soundtrack), which is why this movie was so disappointing. It felt like it was trying to replicate the success of 500 Days of Summer but ended up being the poor man’s version instead.
The highlight of the film for me was the brief scene between Adam and Federico, one of the reception staff, played by Luis Guzmanâa bright spot before the absolutely cringe-worthy ending.
Watched: 09/21/2018
Notable Song: When A Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge
