‘Splitsville’: All Is Fair in Love and Open Relationships in Sharp Screwball Comedy

Alci Rengifo

Questions of commitment and sexual freedom have always dogged humanity, even if it feels like such a modern concern with labels like “polyamorous” dominating cultural lingo. “Splitsville” has great fun exploring these quandaries without necessarily giving any answers. In a sense, it never could, anyway. It becomes instantly engaging by just letting us watch its characters struggle with figuring themselves out. Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin co-star and wrote this screwball screenplay, with Covino directing. Together they are clearly a comedic force, producing material that never slows down, propelled by emotional debates raging inside everyone involved. 

The journey begins with a fight between Carey (Marvin) and Ashley (Adria Arojna), a couple with clearly differing dynamics, during a car ride. Ashley admits she has cheated and wants to break up. Distraught, the needy Carey wanders off on a long trek that takes him to the lavish home of best friend Paul (Covino), who is married to Julie (Dakota Johnson). While spending the night, Carey is told by the couple that they sustain their union by practicing what amounts to an open marriage. Their claim is that either can sleep with whoever they want, no jealousy involved. Carey ends up testing the idea when Paul goes off to work in Manhattan and he sleeps with Julie (who can’t hide her own frustration at the suspicion Paul is seeing someone in the city). When Paul returns and Carey explains what has happened, the former explodes and a fight ensues. Bruised but determined, Carey goes back to Ashley and offers that they stay together in an open relationship where she can see anyone she likes.

Bonds are essential to Covino and Marvin’s storytelling as seen in their previous film, “The Climb,” which dealt with male friendships. “We tend to think of everything that happens as being of ‘that generation,’” Marvin told Entertainment Voice about the genesis of this new film. “As I’ve become older and wiser I’ve realized everyone deals with these questions in every generation. As we explored the topic it opened up to be a much more universal conversation.” That conversation coursing through “Splitsville” is probably similar to when swinging became such a buzzword during the sexual revolution. The filmmakers make the material fun by never pretending to get prudish. They genuinely take the ideas at play seriously. Ashley accepts Carey’s idea and soon enough their home is a den for various lovers who, to her frustration, form what amounts to a social club. Bartender Jackson (Charlie Gillespie) starts getting career advice from Carey. Pretty soon, Ashley can’t hide emerging jealousy when Carey hints that he’s also seeing someone else. Yet, it’s not to say freedom is wrong, but emotional bonds can indeed prove stronger than physical needs, if the bond is genuine. 

What particularly differentiates the guy’s team from the women’s is how Ashley and Julie are both sharp and strong enough to not reveal all of their cards. They handle getting hurt with maturity while Carey and Paul throw hilarious fits, humiliate themselves and clumsily stumble into physical harm. If the women are upfront about what they want, the men cope with absurd posturing. Paul won’t stop pointing out the price of the items in his home, even if his business might be coming under serious financial stress. When a potential partner suddenly backs away from having sex, he’s the kind of guy who says, “Is it anything specific, because I’ve been working out.” Carey can only pretend to be buddies with Ashley’s various hookups for only so long. Russ (Simon Webster), Paul and Julie’s young son, surely senses things are off and acts out by doing silly antics like stealing a neighbor’s jet ski. Yet this isn’t one of those love triangles like “Closer” where the players are inherently unlikeable. Everyone has a heart. They’re just victims of their own, very human, fears. It is a great irony that Dakota Johnson also starred in this year’s “Materialists,” which also poses big questions about modern relationships. Not only is she even more enjoyably vulnerable here with a veneer of control, this movie does a better job at boldly taking on its subject matter.

On the surface the plot may sound quite focused on sex, but this isn’t a movie with a parade of bed romping. It’s not even particularly raunchy. As a director, Covino stages some great slapstick moments where Casey and Paul engage in their own clumsy version of a “John Wick” fight or a quirky time lapse of Ashley’s various companions making themselves at home. Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra’s camera is always on the move, capturing the evolving, breakneck emotions at play. Sex isn’t really the point but the characters’ individual journeys. Ashley has a moment in life where she wants more freedom possibly because Carey can’t tell in those early scenes how clingy he can be, smothering Ashley. Julie and Carey’s marriage is on the rocks for reasons that don’t necessarily have to do with sexual boldness. “Shrug,” is how Marvin reacts to the question of whether monogamy is real or truly possible, “I don’t think the movie even finds an answer.” What is undeniable is that human beings have feelings of all kinds that go into battle with each other. In “Splitsville” they translate into genuine laughs with real resonance.

“Splitsville” releases Aug. 22 in theaters nationwide.