Good friends Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin have co-written, and star, in Covino’s sophomore directorial effort, Splitsville (their first such collaboration was the 2019 The Climb). They play two men caught in a ménage à trois (or ménage à many, from a certain point of view), forced to navigate significant changes in their lives for which at least one of them bears much responsibility. Filled with sex and sex jokes, along with some genuine tenderness for and from its characters, Splitsville proves a fun romp, even with a pacing that works better at some times than at others.
Carey (Marvin) is married to Ashley (Adria Arjona, Disney+’s Andor series), though very soon after the opening (as per the trailer) she informs him that one man (or at least he, Carey) is not enough for her. So off he goes, bereft, to the house of his best friend, Paul (Covino), married to Julie (Dakota Johnson, Cha Cha Real Smooth). They inform Carey that they swing, which is how they keep the relationship vibrant. The next night, while Paul is back in the city (where he deals in real estate)—which Julie believes is code for seeing a lover—Carey and Julie have sex.
No harm, no foul, right? Not so fast. Paul immediately escalates the situation into a knock-down-drag-out fight. One thing leads to another, and Carey ends up back at his own house, where Ashley is carrying on with an increasing bevy of men (and one woman), all of whom Carey befriends. And so on and so forth, the narrative increasing in its comic frenzy along the way. At some point, Covino and Marvin lose the thread, but manage to weave it back into the plot by the end.
The cast is excellent, the timing of their delivery alternating between deadpan and high mania. Nicholas Braun (Saturday Night) stops by for well-earned additional laughs. The choreography of the violent post-coital spat is filled with creative energy that adds to the humor, and the scenes between Ashley’s sexual partners and Carey are extremely funny; they were some of my favorite parts of the film. As enjoyable as the mix and matching of sequences may be, however, I was left wondering what to take away.
Does it matter? The filmmakers seem like they are striving for greater meaning than the simple sum of the parts. But the conclusion, including an abrupt shot to Paul and Julie’s son that stops mid-gesture, feels both half-baked and over-cooked. Despite all the onscreen shenanigans, we realize we barely know these people, so the warm sentiments they share after the preceding recklessness fails to land with the impact it deserves. Nevertheless, Splitsville is, when it works, a wild and frisky frolic. Ignore the rest and enjoy the gags.
Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.