'On The Rocks' A Review

On The Rocks is a dramedy about an affluent NYC writer/housewife Laura(Rashida Jones) who suspects her husband Dean(Marlon Waynes) of having an affair with a co-worker. Laura turns to her sexist unfaithful dad with her problem and the two go on a series of outings in the city to drink and eat and sometimes spy on Dean but proof of Laura's suspicions never quite materialize.

Jones is terribly hamstrung in the role as this reserved, superficial, defacto housewife(the story states she's a writer but she basically never writes). Jones's natural charisma and personality are damped down to a degree that the character is almost a non-entity. It's actually a delight to see Waynes who comes across as the only normal functioning human in the whole cast but his part is regrettably small. And Murray is interesting, I guess, but his patently regressive "men vs. women" constant hectoring seems to have been lifted straight out of When Harry Met Sally which, no surprise, doesn't age well. His charm is apparent in a couple scenes but its rendered mostly ineffective given that the character comes across an old, gross, goat spouting 40 year old "observations" about gender and romance. And it's never really clear why Laura puts up with him at all aside from maybe his(and every other characters') apparent wealth.

Shot in mostly shadowy NYC interiors you have to watch this at night or with all the lights off or you won't actually see anything. Despite that the production is slick and competent, no surprise writer/director Sofia Coppolla is a pro but her craft is irrelevant given her wildly out of touch, derivative, regressive script. Who cares about these rich NYC peoples non-issues? What is the point? The whole thing is about a suspicious wife and her shitty dad and it all basically comes to nothing. This is like a Woody Allen homage 30 years after he was relevant and 10 years after he was a valid reference point. It's baffling.

A tone-deaf, throw-back NYC walk-and-talk, lacking character insight and basic socio-economic awareness.

Currently streaming on Apple TV+.

Don't See It.