newjerseynewsroom.com

BY MIRIAM RINN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

Most people nowadays believe that honesty is an essential component of a successful marriage, or indeed of any personal relationship. Sharing the truth of what we feel, even if it makes us uncomfortable, is how we are supposed to forge a bond of intimacy with our partner. This axiom is so widely accepted in our culture that we often forget how modern — and how American — it is. In other places and at other times, men and women took for granted that discretion and some tactful dissemblance was the natural and appropriate method to getting along with their spouses. In "The Freebie," writer/director and leading actress Katie Aselton takes a dispassionate look at a young California couple who struggle with how much truth to tell to each other and, perhaps, to themselves.

Married for seven years, Darren (Dax Shepard) and Annie (Aselton) live comfortably in a very clean, affluent-looking Los Angeles, sharing conversation and laughter, dinner with friends, walks in the mountains, and all the other cool things that well-situated young people share. The one thing they don't share is sex. For whatever reason, Darren doesn't desire his wife. Is he bored? Is he gay? Is he depressed? We don't know, and Annie doesn't ask. Instead, they come up with a scheme to relight their fire. Each of them will go out, score a one-night stand with a stranger, and return to each other sexually reignited.

Needless to say, this plan goes seriously awry. The viewer is left wondering what made them think it could ever work. For all their "honest" talk (Darren and Annie are constantly telling each other how lucky they feel to be together, and even more amazingly, all their friends talk the same way) they don't talk about the central issue in their lives. Why aren't they having sex? It can't be that they're too tired, since neither of them goes to work and they don‘t have children. And they seem to genuinely like each other. Aselton includes shots of the couple happily spending time together with no sense of friction or distance. They appear to have established a form of intimacy that includes neither sex nor honesty, but is that possible?

"The Freebie" looks and feels very much like an indie; producer Mark Duplass (married to Aselton) is one half of the Duplass brothers, whose latest film "Cyrus" features Aselton. Lots of close-ups gives the movie that now-familiar sense of voyeuristic intimacy, and there are some intriguing shifts in chronology to keep the viewer attentive. Both lead performances are good, with Aselton the stronger actor. Shepard's Dax is goofily charming, but we don't sense the despair or even shame that a man in his situation must feel. It's not until Darren explodes in anger that he seems truly alive, and that leads to the core mystery of the film. Where do these characters bury their emotions?

Aselton has constructed "The Freebie" to provoke a series of questions, and thankfully, hasn't provided the answers. Why isn't this attractive young couple having sex? They seem perfectly content, so is sex important to marriage? If they are so honest and direct with each other, why are they not talking about IT? When they do talk about it, are they telling the truth? Are they ever telling the truth? Are they really content? Why doesn't one or both of them sleep with other people and just lie about it? And, for the audience, can we believe anything they say? In a way, it's reminiscent of a Woody Allen relationship movie, but without the laughs and without the deep humanism. Aselton's film is shallower in its characterizations, but still engaging with lots of room for discussion and disagreement.