Splitsville

Though it does have it’s moments, I thought this quite a predicable cycle of contrived romantic dysfunction that really did run out of steam. It starts when the ostensibly happily wed “Ashley” (Adria Arjuna) and husband “Carey” (Kyle Marvin) have a near miss on the road as they are driving to a weekend at their friend’s beach-house. That’s when she declares that she wants a divorce. He abandons the car and embarks on a one-man safari to get to the home of “Julie” (Dakota Johnson), “Paul” (auteur Michael Angelo Covina) and their young son “Russ” (Simon Webster) who have already been briefed on this sudden revelation. It’s not the only one that “Carey” is going to get this night as they reveal that they have an open relationship and that she thinks he regularly meets women for sex in the city where he works as a property developer. What happens next? Well lines get crossed; relationships (and tables) get tested; sexual fluidity becomes the order of the day; Range Rovers get repossessed and all of these characters have to decide just what they really want from life, and what love truly means to each of them. In some ways it reminded me a little of “The Roses” (2025) but otherwise it was little better than an episode of “Sex in the City” only without any subtlety to the humour nor likeableness of any of the four whose selfish and often quite thoughtless introspection robbed the thing of any sense of humanity. It does poke some fun at generations of folks in constant need of therapy or meaning and it also does rather expose our often double-standard approach to sex, but too much of this is padding.

Co-writers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin star in **SPLITTSVILLE** (with Covino helming directing duties) and I'm still torn on how to rate this uneven film. This truly is a tale of two films that fail to form any meaningful or memorable cohesion. But in their bifurcated states, both function quite well as a comedy and a drama -- well enough to wish that Covino and Marvin had just picked one lane instead of two. And that ultimately is the real problem I had with **SPLITTSVILLE** as the film's transitions from its comedic elements into more dramatic themes feel forced and never effectively mix for me. So perhaps the best way to write this review is to first judge it on its comedic elements -- and on that front there is much to praise. Covino and Marvin's comic chemistry soars and when they both lean into the craziness, it achieves **STEPBROTHERS** levels of insanity. However, because the comedy is so bonkers -- it directly undermines any chance of the film striking meaningful dramatic notes with its characters. And therein lies the main issue: because as a comedy, this is commendable work, but the danger is after applying too many comedic elements can make it impossible for audiences to take any dramatic elements in the film seriously and that's a disservice to the other characters, especially Dakota Johnson's Julie. With an open-marriage subplot that predictably goes off the rails, I wish **SPLITTSVILLE** had simply leaned in more to the comedic themes instead of trying to have it both ways as a drama, too. Adria Arjona co-stars.