Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Some couples are made in heaven. Others seem like accidents waiting to happen. This week, I’m looking at three new movies about strained relationships. There’s a power couple whose marriage has lost its strength; a pair of couples whose open marriages are closing up fast; and a Stan who wants to be closer to his idol.

Lurker
Wri/Dir: Alex Russell

Matthew (Théodore Pellerin: Genesis, Solo) is a young man who lives with his mom. He likes music, fashion and art, and loves shooting videos using an obsolete camera. He works in an LA clothing store — along with an even younger guy named Jamie (Sunny Suljic: mid90s) — and devotes a lot of his spare time to updating his socials. But his life is changed forever when Oliver (Archie Madekwe) wanders — seemingly at random — into his store.

Matthew seizes the day, and subtly change the music tracks being played to ones he knew would appeal to Oliver. Why? Because Matthew has been stanning him for years — he’s a superfan. And it seems to work: he is invited to hang with Oliver’s entourage in his swank home. He’s insulted and belittled but is gradually accepted into that crowd (and he never tells them he’s a Stan for Oliver). He shoots videos and starts doing crucial work for the band. They become — almost — good friends. He’s in hog heaven. And as he rises up the ladder in his precipitous climb to peripheral stardom, he discretely stabs his rivals — that is, anyone who threatens his newfound status — in the back. He ends up accompanying the band on their trip to London… but he takes one step too far, and once again he is just a normal person. But he has one more trick up his sleeve. Can he work his way back into the sphere of that celebrity? And at what cost?

Lurker is a fascinatingly eerie psychological drama about the rise, fall and rise of an ordinary person within the life of a celebrity. (It’s in the style of classic movies like All About Eve or A Star is Born. But it’s not about someone trying to replace a star, but rather to be closer to the star, a part of his life.) And there’s a non-sexual homoerotic subtext to the whole film as Matthew and Oliver’s power dynamic keeps shifting. Madekwe is an English actor in movies like Midsommer and Saltburn, and Pellerin is a fantastic young Quebecois, in movies by Sophie Dupuis and Xavier Dolan, and they work well together. This is writer-director Alex Russell’s first feature ( he’s best known for TV shows like The Bear) but he clearly has something going here that works.

Lurker is a good (and kinda creepy) movie.

The Roses
Dir: Jay Roach

Ivy and Theo (Olivia Coleman, Benedict Cumberbatch) are a happily married professional couple in northern California. Theo is a prize winning architect, while Ivy is a chef. They met at a business meeting in London where they had impromptu, furtive sex in a walk-in fridge — instant kismet. They left England forever and set up camp in America, to raise their twin kids whom they both love dearly. That was ten years ago.

Theo’s careers has blossomed: he has built his magna opus; a modern nautical museum with a sailboat planted on the roof. Ivy mainly cooks at home but recently opened a sleepy crab shack on the beach. But one evening unexpected gale-force winds drastically alter both their lives. The winds blow down his masterpiece, leaving the glass and wooden building, and his reputation as an architect, in ruins. But that same night a leading food critic braved the storm and ate a meal at her restaurant… and the rave review launches her career.

Soon Theo is taking care of the twins (training them for some athletic prize) while Ivy’s food empire continues to grow. The busier Ivy gets, the more depressed and resentful Theo becomes. Their marriage in tatters, they try counselling and other measures, but nothing seems to work. Can the Roses get back together? Or is their marriage doomed to fail?

The Roses is a remake of the hit 1989 film The War of the Roses, a dark comedy about the tooth-and-nail fight over a house by a divorcing couple. This version leaves out the war, and concentrates more on the laughs. Unfortunately it’s not very funny. There’s a bunch of Saturday Night Live veterans (Kate McKinnon, Andy Samberg), and famous comic actors (like Jamie Demetrioum, Zoe Chao, and Sunita Mani) who read their lines before the camera, but they’re extremely unfunny. I love Olivia Coleman (The Favourite, The Lost Daughter, Mothering Sunday,  Empire of Light) and usually like Benedict Cumberbatch ((Doctor Strange, Spiderman, The Power of the Dog) but their usual dry, caustic wit is not evident here. And any War of these Roses is left until the final 15 minutes.

The Roses isn’t terrible, but it’s not very good, either.

Splitsville
Dir: Michael Angelo Covino

Carey and Paul (Kyle Marvin, Michael Angelo Covino) have been best friends since they were kids. Carey’s scruffy, messy but always sympathetic; he works as a teacher in a private school. Paul is a hotshot real estate dealer, putting together huge ventures in Manhattan. They both “married up”, ordinary guys with beautiful women. Carey’s partner Ashley (Adria Arjona) is a counsellor, and a firecracker in bed. They’ve only been together a short time. Julie (Dakota Johnson) is a professional potter who looks like a model. She and Paul have been married for awhile, and have a rambunctious son to show for it. Carey and Ashley are on their way to visit Paul and Julie in their lakeside villa for a summer vacation, when a chain of events changes their lives. Ashley performs a sexual act on Carey as he’s driving the car, but it’s witnessed by another car driving past, leading to a major accident, death, and Ashley wanting a divorce. (Hence the title Splitsville.) Carey arrives at Paul and Julie’s a complete mess. They comfort Carey and tel him they have an open marriage. And when Paul drives back to the city, Carey sleeps with Julie since it doesn’t matter anyway. But it does matter, which leads to a major dustup between the best friends. And puts Paul and Julie’s marriage into question. Can either couple get back together? Can Carey and Paul’s friendship be repaired? And who will end up with whom?

Splitsville is a cute sex-comedy about relationships. Apparently Covino and Marvin, the actors and co-writers, are friends in real life, which comes through both in their patter and their physical interactions; you get the feeling they’ve been having no-holds-barred punch-outs and wrestling matches since they were toddlers. Some of the scenes are totally original — like when Carey is trying to hold onto a bunch of goldfish in plastic bags while on a roller coaster ride. And there are novel situations, too: Carey decides to continue to live with Ashley after they split up, and he takes pains to make friends with each guy she sleeps with, so all the guys end up sticking around in their tiny apartment. There are lots of amusing scenes that make you chuckle, but it rarely makes you laugh. And way too many dick jokes (including a lot of visual ones).

Splitsville may not be the best date movie, but it’s not bad, ether.

Splitsville, Lurker and The Roses all open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings. This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.