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An entertaining film that holds up a mirror to our preconceived movie biases due to typical shitty marketing by studio executives.
In this recurring piece (IMHO) I'll be spotlighting movies I find interesting enough to watch that may not be on your radar or what you may expect.
About 6 years ago before my first child was born my wife and I found ourselves at my friend Tom's house with not much to do. We decided to scroll through On Demand for a movie to throw on and stumbled upon The Layover.
We picked the movie like the typical assholes we are. We picked it because the trailer looked awful, and we wanted a bad movie to shit on while throwing a few back.
The trailer makes this film look like any typical direct to On Demand movie that is made on a low budget and has no soul. It makes the two main characters appear to be one track brainless tropes solely focused on scoring the man before the other can. It also cuts quickly between cameo actors in an attempt to manufacture some sort of clout for the movie. It reeks of studio executives grasping at the usual levers to desperately sell this to audiences by treating them like morons.
Now why am I writing about this? Yes you guessed it, this movie is good!
The dogshit formulaic trailer totally masks the best part of the movie. A pair of solid performances from Alexandra Daddario and Kate Upton who crucially sell the audience on how real and easily believable their friendship is. I understand it must be hard to cut a trailer together, I can barely embed videos for God's sake, but it was a disservice to all the folks who worked on this movie. Bad marketing can bury a film before it has a chance to shine.
From here on out I'll give a breakdown of the highlights and lowlights of the film so minor spoilers are ahead.
The plot is pretty straightforward. Alexandra Daddario (playing Kate so as not to confuse her with Kate Upton I'll refer to the actors by their first name) is a newly fired teacher having an understandably terrible day. Her best friend and roommate Meg (played by Kate Upton) is a failing makeup sales associate who also is introduced to us having an equally shitty day.
This is the impetus for the two of them (or really Kate Upton) to plan an impromptu vacation to Fort Lauderdale.
Of note at the start of the film Alexandra fills the 'Straight Man' role to Kate's comedic relief/outgoing friend. Kate Upton's comedic timing and delivery is one of the reasons the film succeeds. Again, not to beat a dead horse but none of that shines through in the trailer.
Kate and Alexandra's differing personalities begin to clash with one another as we get introduced to the driver of the plot, Ryan (played by Matt Barr), the classic good looking guy who sits between them on the plane. They begin to jockey for his attention as competition for him becomes their main motivation in the film.
The plotline is advanced when it is announced by the pilot that a hurricane is diverting their plane to St. Louis (thus the title of the film).
Act 1 is personally the act I most enjoyed in the film. The occupants of the plane are all shuttled off to a Sheraton until a connecting flight can be arranged. I would bet Sheraton was a producer/sponsor in some capacity on the production. It appears to be shot directly at a real location, inside and out. As the first act centers here it is hilariously brilliant of the producers to pick such a cheap location to shoot in, all the while probably getting a heavy or full discount to shoot there. Respect.
There is an awesomely awkward dance scene at the Sheraton bar/club (just go with it they are real) that doesn't feel over the top to me and that's why I enjoy it. I've been in many shitty hotel bars and the grouping of actors and dancing that goes on has a ring of authenticity to it which I appreciated (one extra in particular is doing a downwards fist pump repeatedly makes me laugh every time). There is a song that plays when the main characters get out on the dance floor that I thought must have been made for the movie as the lyrics seem to be a direct wink at romantic comedy tropes. But I was wrong! It's a real song, and it fits perfectly in this setting. It's True Love by Ms Triniti. I think the song selection is perfect as it sets the audience up only for the movie to ultimately subvert our expectations.
"Boy meets girl, boy likes girl and tries to get with girl. Boy kisses girl and girl likes that. Boy cheats girl, boy loses girl realizes he loves her. Then boy gets girl back. Again and again. And so on."
After that scene we get another memorable one after their layover is extended due to the hurricane. The next day they go on a random hot air balloon excursion which really serves to further highlight Kate Upton's comedic chops and start to give Alexandra's character more depth in a manic sort of way. Another enjoyable set piece overall.
After that we get into Act 2 which for me is the lowlight of the film. The hurricane shows no signs of abating and Ryan (Matt Barr) has to get back for a wedding. So the next day one of the other occupants we've had a brief introduction to at this point (Badger from Breaking Bad, Matt L. Jones) rents a car and they're going to road trip to Fort Lauderdale.
Being stuck in a single shot essentially for a good chunk of the movie slows the pacing down considerably. Also it makes the shenanigans the two leads are performing to win over Ryan seem a little more forced. I don't feel it harms my overall feelings of the film, I'm just letting you know in advance to bear with the pacing. A final note, Matt L. Jones character is introduced as a foil to Kate Upton's characters unpredictable tendencies as they play off each other and I buy it. I like the dude.
Towards the end of the road trip Alexandra Daddario's character gets more development and a seemingly big win over her friend as she gets some alone time with Ryan and they have sex. A great twist is introduced and it's a pretty funny sex scene. I won't say more as I don't want to ruin it.
In the morning it turns out Kate Upton had already found time to sleep with Ryan before Alexandra had her chance so her moment of victory and coming out of her shell is ruined. They have a pretty entertaining physical fight as a result.
I won't spoil the final romantic comedy trope subversion but essentially the film winds down upon their arrival in Fort Lauderdale. Alexandra and Kate patch things up and admit they've been shitty to one another. They take away the positives of their trip, it's forced them to look in a mirror at their own shortcomings and realize they've had the best support system in front of themselves the whole time. They don't need strange dick or a trip to work through shit together.
Now if you were to look up the Rotten Tomatoes on this film you'd see what looks to be a total blood bath.
Jesus Christ!
Stop it they're already dead!
I consider myself a movie buff. At least I was more of a movie buff before I had kids (I have no time for shit!) I've seen my fair share of terrible movies, I'd be the first to call it like I see it.
This was not one. I really feel like the critics did one of two things or both. They either just watched the trailer and said "Pfwaaah, NEXT", or just saw the leads and decided to shit all over it as you have two stars who may not have found your traditional path to Hollywood success.
What about the audience score Kirk you may ask? Well it's currently streaming for free on Amazon Prime and it has a solid score. Rotten Tomatoes has a sense of immediacy bias to it so I'm not surprised.
I truly feel the marketing and critical laziness killed this movie.
Alexandra and Kate play well off each other and feel like real friends. It's a funny, light hearted film clearly made on a low budget. It works great within its confines. This movie was meant to be an enjoyable escape for an hour and a half. How do people not get that and judge this in a vacuum? I truly feel that Alexandra and Kate showed great range and put in solid performances. I bought it.
I know if this weekend I crack open some wine with the Mrs. and put this on we'll have a fun night. Isn't that the whole point?
