On the Rocks (2020) Review

This article contains both a spoiler-free and spoiler review.

Spoiler-free:

Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks, about a father and daughter rekindling their abnormal relationship while pursuing her husband to confirm if he’s having an affair, has a great storyline that’s overshadowed by a mundane plot-driven mystery.

When the movie begins, the viewer is immediately put into the point-of-view of Rashida Jones’ character who is surprised when her husband, played by Marlon Waynes, comes home in the middle of the night and unexpectedly starts to hook up with her. He seems a bit out of it and after a moment he stops after realizing he’s kissing his wife and then promptly falls asleep next to her. Right off the bat the movie is hinting at some type of affair going on with the husband. A great way to start a story.

The rest of the film consists of Rashida Jones and her playboy father, played by Bill Murray, following her husband around to see if he’s having said affair. Murray’s character believes her husband is and is the driving force for most of the movie.

This isn’t a must watch, but it’s entertaining with some great character moments but has a bland ending.

Rating: 7.7/10

Spoilers:

The movie’s biggest flaw is it’s forced perception of insinuating Dean is having an affair with Jessica Henwick’s character, Fiona. Instead of just getting a simple story of a father wanting to make up for lost time by being an absentee father or something in a similar vein, we get this contrived story with a mediocre conclusion.

There are some amazing conversations in this movie between Jones and Murray, but they’re overshadowed with the mystery of Dean’s possible affair. There are some amazing scenes with Jones and Murray’s sitting around in a very expensive tiny Italian car, transferring heavy blows of dialogue consisting of twenty years of pent up emotions. The film would’ve been better if there were more steak-out scenes and less affair-persuasions.

The movie doesn’t necessarily need Dean to be cheating, but the story feels more like a Mad Libs Dramedy template guiding us to through forced drama in order for Jones to realize she did not marry another version of her father.

Listen to my full spoiler review on Movie Reviews #207 here.