'Adult Best Friends' is just reruns
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“Friends don’t always have to agree; you be you, and I’ll be me.”
Somehow that simple lesson from “Duck & Goose” gets complicated as time goes by and differences become chasms, able to be traversed through the type of honest conversation that childhood bonds often aren’t forged or sustained on. Long-time besties often hit a wall during adult rites of passage, and only some navigate this successfully.
All that’s to say that “Adult Best Friends” is plenty relatable and also very much like “Frances Ha” or “Bridesmaids” (or the lesser-known “Life Partners”) with all the laughs and personality and wisdom taken out.
Co-written by stars and real-life friends Delaney Buffett (who also directed) and Katie Corwin, the movie is easy to summarize and gives you nothing you don’t know or haven’t seen. Perhaps playing versions of themselves, Delaney and Katie have done everything together since adolescence, but, of course, there’s a growing rift between them as the latter is a positive, happy person in a serious relationship and the former is a Debbie Downer who puts as little effort into her career as her personal life. Distance between close friends isn’t usually so broad and binary (again, “Frances Ha” rules), but “Adult Best Friends” just lobs easy ones down the middle and expects two points for honesty. If you thought that reference was lame, you are right and should avoid this movie.
Are there people out there going through something like this, or who remember when they did, who might really go for “Adult Best Friends”? Sure. Sincere material like this can be very personal, and there aren’t enough movies about friendship.
But this is a mediocre script that, like the central friendship, starts well and fails badly when it’s time to get anything done. Every supporting character is annoying, every discussion of growing up is cliche, and every plot point is bland and reheated, far closer to fries (great when fresh, weak as leftovers) than pizza (self-explanatory). For stories like this you can do, and almost certainly already have done, so much better.
C
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