Long past his sexually explicit enfant terrible mumblecore origins, writer-director Joe Swanberg continues his ongoing experiments in honoring the romantic comedy’s conventional satisfactions while expanding its sexual parameters with “The Sun Never Sets.” Wendy (Dakota Fanning) has been dating sedate single dad Jack (Swanberg regular Jake Johnson) for two years. When he decides they should take a break so that Wendy can see other people and make absolutely sure she’s happy in their relationship, a love triangle is sparked. Both bizarre and boring, it’s definitely a signature Swanberg product: performance-driven, sexually (at least putatively) adventurous, full of craft beer.
In drone shots scored to generic indie-pop, Wendy (Dakota Fanning) drives into town, looking vaguely wistful under opening credits — so far, so romcom. But she’s not on the right heterosexual track to marriage and children, which particularly rankles after bestie Lindsay (Debby Ryan) announces she’s pregnant. With two kids and an ex-wife, Jack has no desire for more children or another marriage, but senses that Wendy might come to resent him for denying her both. So, he proposes she take six months off for her to see what else is out there; very reluctantly, she accepts.
