You’ve seen this all before, and that’s the cheery joke driving C.A. Gabriel and Renee Felice Smith’s first feature directorial, “The Relationtrip.” It is obvious that the chaos and drama of the film is carefully woven, and that for Gabriel and Smith it was a labor of love, as the couple co-wrote, co produced, and co-directed the film, with Smith also taking up one of the major roles. (Gabriel also composed music for the film.) A wicked spin on the often played-out world of indie romantic comedies, “The Relationtrip” packs every conceivable genre trope into a neat 90 minutes, and then happily upends them. Still, we have come to expect such type of developments and plots.
Beck (Smith) and Liam (Matt Bush) are your everyday Los Angeles hipsters living in silver lake he is involved with something related to video games while she is working in a cafe, and they cross paths at a ‘salon de music’ which is an informal music gathering that people host in their living rooms. Suffice it to say, not everything is as quirky as it is made out to be. After their awkward meet-cute, Liam and Beck boyishly decide to grab tacos from a truck so they can converse with each other. Seeking solace, and although every couple around them makes them want to roll their eyes, they finally admit to wanting to escape everything and travel together. To their own quiet amusement, they set some rules. “No funny business,” they demand. “No deep conversations over storied pasts,” they promise.
For clarification, don’t even refer to it as a relationtrip; it’s a “friendship friend trip.” This has always been a ready made romcom plot now the question arises is the movie able to achieve what it sets out without falling into all the tropes that the movie tries to avoid? As Beck and Liam embark on their road trip through the desert, it appears that their romance is both destined to occur and equally contrived. One moment, they’re lamenting how people announce engagement on Instagram, and the next they’re gleefully showing off what will be their next social media photo.
As “The Relationtrip” drives deeper into the story, the movie becomes odder. It is not childishly funny weird, but weird in an intelligent manner, with the help of Smith and Bush’s delightful and casual banter. Beck and Liam straightforwardly demonstrate lots of contradictions and insecurities to each other that literally start to reveal themselves. A huge stand-in puppet for all of Beck’s poor choices in life named Chippy serves as a creepy example of how her bad feelings about her body could manifest. In addition, Liam’s immense maternal compassion issues take shape as a life-sized enormous mother. And that is merely the tip of the eccentric surprises ‘The Relationtrip offers its audience.
As Beck and Liam discover the ecological realities of the world, their bond becomes intense. Within one long weekend, they encounter every form of modern romance. This is entertaining yet the humor is a bit exhausting and ‘The Relationtrip’ feels like an awkward transition between two broad ideas without thorough exploration of either. Smith and Gabriel have a good grip on their type as well as the marketable premise but their unwillingness to select one idea outright is limiting ‘The Relationtrip’ from properly distorting its subject. They have seen this style before, but ‘The Relationtrip’ lacks the bravery to be ecologically correct.
To watch more movies like (The Relationtrip (2017)) visit 123Movies.
Also Watch for more movies like:
