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THE ARGUMENT
Director: Robert Schwartzman Cast: Dan Fogler, Emma Bell, Danny Pudi, Tyler James Williams, Cleopatra Coleman, Maggie Q, Mark Ryder, Charlotte McKinney, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Karan Brar, Marielle Scott MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:21 Release Date: 9/4/20 (limited; digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 3, 2020 Someone said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. That idea serves as the foundation of The Argument, a farce about relationships and the impulsive need to be right. It's a story about six people who seem incapable of learning from or giving sway on anything, so the surprise is how well Zac Stanford's screenplay evolves its high-concept premise. Jack (Dan Fogler), a struggling screenwriter, has invited a couple of friends to celebrate the closing night of a play starring his girlfriend Lisa (Emma Bell). He also intends to propose. The friends are Brett (Danny Pudi), Jack's agent, and his wife Sarah (Maggie Q), an attorney with a photographic memory. Unknown to Jack, Lisa has invited her co-star Paul (Tyler James Williams), of whom Jack is jealous, and his girlfriend Trina (Cleopatra Coleman), who is jealous of Lisa. As the night progresses, tensions erupt, and by the end, Jack and Lisa each think the other is to blame. The only answer, they decide, is to invite their friends to re-play the night over and over again, until the blame can be objectively and correctly placed on the right person. Just as the initial get-together escalates, the subsequent reunions (Each of the couples has a similar reaction as Jack and Lisa, believing that each partner did or said something—or a lot of things—wrong during the first evening) reveal more disagreements, more strain, and more petty squabbles. The comedy here is in the repetition, obviously, but more to the point, it's in how devoted these characters become (except for the one person whose memory could help) to, not only being right, but also proving someone—or a few people—wrong. Director Robert Schwartzman admirably keeps things moving at a clip, a necessity for farce, and even when certain jokes seem to run out of the steam, Stanford introduces a new complication or idea into the mix. It climaxes, for example, with Jack's bright idea to hire actors to perform the party, which adds another layer of egotism to the dynamic. To be fair, some of the jokes and gag setups do go on longer than necessary, especially during the climactic "performance." Even so, the cast is game, the premise and its escalation are clever, and the comedic execution of The Argument is right on target. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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