Apple TV+'s 'On the Rocks' Doesn't Rock Too Much
Starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones, Marlon Wayans, Jenny Slate, Jessica Henwick
R
Comedy
Run time: 1 hr, 36 min
Directed and written by Sofia Coppola
On Apple TV+ October 23, 2020
Last month, I did a deep dive on Apple TV+, and kept getting ads for this movie, so I was actually looking forward to checking it out. Unfortunately, it seemed to be one of those films where the best bits were all in the trailer. With a cast including incredible comedy actors such as Rashida Jones and Bill Murray, I had some high hopes. I expected to laugh out loud, have heartwarming feelings towards an adorable father/daughter relationship and to be caught up in the drama of whether a man was cheating on his wife or not. None of those things happened as much as I hoped they would.
The story is pretty simple: Jones plays a woman who is noticing her husband (Wayans) is becoming more and more distant, emotionally and physically, as he is focusing on work - which happens to also employ a truly stunning new assistant who is often at his side. There are a few tiny clues, one after another, that push Jones into thinking he’s cheating on her. Her somewhat-erstwhile father comes in at this point, stirs her up into thinking it’s the truth and convincing her the best way to handle this is to make this a poorly thought out spy mission to possibly catch him in the act. In order to avoid any spoilers, I’ll say the way it played out felt a bit unrewarding to me.
I do have to say, the further I got away from this movie, the more I realized it actually was a decent film. My ‘meh’ feeling seems to be born more from me having too high of expectations than it being a bad movie. The chemistry of all the actors is pretty solid, and while the writing isn’t the most magical, it does flow relatively easily, something that isn’t always found in a 90-minute movie. It’s a relatively low stakes film - the world isn’t ending, no one is in life-threatening danger and the only car chase that happens is in a convertible that craps out pretty quickly. In COVID times, it’s kind of nice to enjoy a movie that doesn’t have you on the edge of your seat. It’s comfortable, it’s lived in and it just seems so quaint at this point watching people interacting without masks.
No one does a bad job in this movie, and especially if you haven’t seen the preview, it’s very enjoyable. If you just go into it with an open mind and wishing for some entertainment or distraction, it’ll be perfect for you. My problem is more about the fact that it is just fine and I felt it should be more. When we get so few new movies, I feel like my standards get higher. But sometimes a movie that is just a fun way to spend some time has its merits, and I need to remember that more.