Are open marriages the wave of the future? Should a partner just “get over it” and accept that being #1 with your spouse doesn’t mean you’re #1 every.single.day? Does it make sense in the era of divorce that all marriage should necessarily be monogamous?
I have my own answers to these questions, but they’re not important to anybody but me and my spouse. I like, however, that this comedy raised them as discussion points in between laughs. Splitsville takes on monogamy like few films before it, inviting a comic tone even when feelings are hurt.
A random drive takes quite a turn when Ashley (Adria Arjona) and Carey (Kyle Marvin) go from potential active car sex to investigating another car crashing which ends in Ashley admitting she’s been unfaithful and asking for a divorce.
Ummmm … OK
Carey, distraught, goes to the beach house of his friends Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (writer/director/costar Michael Angelo Corvino). Paul ain’t home and Julie proceeds to tell Carey that she and Paul have an open marriage and Paul is currently being unfaithful. Then Julie and Carey have sex.
Ummmm … OK
Paul comes home and, despite the nature of his marriage, is alarmed by Carey and Julie hooking up. Paul and Carey proceed to have the funniest fight in 2025 film. I can’t really tell you how delightful this was, but the highlights include breaking a fish tank, pausing the fight to save the fish, and then resuming the fight with a bathtub drowning attempt – as that’s where they put the fish. There was also a moment in the kitchen where both men picked up big knives,
considered for a second, and simultaneously put them down establishing “NO KNIVES” as an immediate fight rule.
I can’t say Splitsville was consistently as fun or funny as that fight. It seemed rather uneven, comedy-wise, but held true to character absurdity. My favorite among these being when Ashley decides that she’s going to go through men like numbers at a deli counter, while Carey -refusing to move out- takes them all in after Ashley dumps them. They seem like nice guys, and they all take being dumped pretty well … except for the part where they refuse to move out of Ashley’s house.
Splitsville is a very directed comedy; while it has great comic moments, I doubt very much it will play well to a strictly monogamous crowd. This is the kind of film in which one partner laughs a little too loud at the exact wrong joke, and afterwards there’s a serious discussion in the place of emotional intimacy. I liked it, but can’t recommend it to all.
There was once a cockold named Carey
Who found infidelity a bit scary
But one look at Dakota
And that’s where ya go ta
Find your practical and your personal quite contrary
Rated R, 104 Minutes
Director: Michael Angelo Covino
Writer: Nichael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin
Genre: The lighter side of infidelity
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Down-to-Earth divorcees
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Jealous partners
