In the last decade, indie entertainment company A24 has distributed a plethora of high quality films, which I considered reason enough to check out their latest production, “On the Rocks.” Director Sofia Coppola’s new dramedy meets their standard well, holding a satisfying level of quirkiness and clean camera work that I’ve come to expect from A24. It’s also a lighter film than many of its predecessors, packing less of a punch but serving as easier viewing than movies like “Swiss Army Man” or “The Lobster.”
“On the Rocks” keeps its plot very simple. Laura (Rashida Jones) suspects that her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) might be cheating, so she and her father Felix (Bill Murray) decide to start following Dean around on his business trips around New York City and onward. This barebones storyline works exceedingly well with the rest of the movie’s ingredients, particularly its classy cast and their full characters.
Jones is instantly likeable as Laura. In several minutes, viewers have been given a great sense of how busy and weary she is, a novelist mother who’s struggling to write while taking care of two young daughters on top of feeling increasingly distant from her husband. She’s almost always in a hurry and surrounded by noise or noisy people. (Some of the funniest scenes feature Jenny Slate as an extremely talkative friend of Laura’s in the parents’ waiting line at school.)
Wayans brings energetic charisma to the role of Dean, who is an entrepreneur at a rapidly growing tech startup. He comes across as a passionate man who loves his family and his job, but he also seems too quick at coming up with reasons for getting home late. Dean’s energy often makes Laura look boring in comparison, which adds to her own fears.
We haven’t even gotten to this movie’s main selling point. It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it; this somewhat explains the mystical comedy force that is Bill Murray. The man oozes irreverence with each word uttered, eyebrow raised, and note whistled, and he’s perfect for the role of Laura’s dad. Felix is a wealthy art dealer and rather shameless playboy whose deep suspicions of Dean are mostly based on unfaithful decisions from his own past. “You need to start thinking like a man,” he says to Laura. As viewers will see, some of Felix’s ideas about human nature may not have aged especially well, but Murray’s ironic executions of humor have only increased in their charm.
“On the Rocks” can be streamed via Apple TV+. (It’s at least worth a one-week free trial.)
