Solid but not without its flaws

Rating: 8/10 (14 December 2019)

This movie tackles the complexity of divorce without pulling any punches. Where this move excels is it's raw approach to the ugliness of separation and how even the most genuinely kind people can turn into the worst version of themselves all for the sake of a "win". Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson deliver strong, believable performances of a married couple who became a union for their own selfish reasons but likely had no business even dating letting alone getting married.
Where this movie tends to fail however, despite it's title, is in the actual story. There's just no real direction or goal to what goes on here. Nicole, (Johansson's character) does a brief overview of what brought them together and broke them up. But the true lynchpin of what destroyed them, is for whatever reason a bit of an afterthought, only mentioned sparingly throughout the film. At times they seem like they're on the verge of saying "let's just make this work" only to wipe it all away with something truly awful said or done.
Once you kinda know where this story is headed which is fairly early into the second act, while intriguing, you're kinda just waiting to see how it'll all play out and it begins to drag. Some scenes are either needlessly elongated or completely unnecessary altogether. I do however absolutely love the "real life" comedy that happens. They did really well with making funny moments seem natural.
The strength and weakness of this movie is in its realness. Our lives are real and art tries like hell to imitate it, only to realize not every waking moment of it is even remotely entertaining. This movie seems to wallow in these moments of realness that don't happen to necessarily be entertaining and it's where this movie sags.
I enjoyed Marriage Story thoroughly and after seeing this and finally seeing "Her", I've grown a full blown new respect for Scarlett Johansson's acting prowess. But this movie lacks a true point and seems to only hinge itself on something (married or not) we all know too well; the pain of separating from someone you once immensely cared about. It relates greatly enough to pull you in for the duration, but upon reflection, you realize it's not as great as it seems. Seems to be more anguish for the sake of anguish, rather than anguish to illustrate a point. Don't get me wrong, there are revelations to be had, but without a true direction in this movie, you're kind left wondering what the point of it all even was, especially factoring in the "ending". If you can call it that.