LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Heartbreak and confusion will always be universal subjects for relationship stories. Splitsville, in theaters Friday, applies the lenses of polyamory and the filmmakers' unique comic sensibilities to bring new humor and insights to those subjects.
The movie opens with Carey's (Kyle Marvin) wife Ashley (Adria Arjona) asking him for a divorce after 14 months of marriage. He goes to his friends Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Michael Angelo Covino) for comfort and is surprised when they inform him they are in an open relationship but don't discuss their extramarital encounters with each other.
Julie and Paul's arrangement prompts Carey to suggest to Ashley that they try opening their marriage, in a desperate attempt to not lose her. The two couples' interactions are further complicated after Julie sleeps with Carey when he's staying with them.
The script to Splitsville, written by Marvin and Covino, is hardly an endorsement of polyamory. It's about the potential for comic misadventures, which may offend people practicing ethical nonmonogamy successfully.
Any relationship can only be as successful as the people involved, and Splitsville, which Covino also directed, portrays four characters exploring polyamory to avoid dealing with deeper emotional issues. Perhaps committed polyamorists could relate to the frustration of such characters dabbling in their lifestyle for the wrong reasons.
