Just face it: ever since you graduated college, your tight knit group of friends have all moved back to their respective homes, and now all you share in common is the Facebook group message or GroupMe that attempts to connect everyone in that familiar, special way; but ultimately, fails.
About Alex is the debut feature from writer/director Jesse Zwick, and the film centers around Alex (Jason Ritter) and his recent attempted suicide. This tragic event prompts his old group of college buddies, who are admittedly not as close as they all used to be, to come together for a little reunion of sorts. The group then plays catch up and tries to keep an eye on Alex to ensure his safety. The core family consists of Ben (Nate Parker), the writer who hasn’t worked on his book in over a year, his girlfriend Siri (Maggie Grace), the anxious, Xanax queen Sarah (Aubrey Plaza), the cynical doctoral candidate Josh (Max Greenfield), and Isaac (Max Minghella) the friend who brings his new 22 year old girlfriend Kate (Jane Levy) to the group.
The plot of About Alex, as well as the character archetypes, is far from original. In fact, the film even gets a bit self-aware and points to the fact that it feels like an “old 80s movie,” referencing The Big Chill, among other siblings. But even though the film is aware that it’s paying homage as opposed to breaking new ground, things border on groaning cliche at a few points.
The plot of About Alex, as well as the character archetypes, is far from original. In fact, the film even gets a bit self-aware and points to the fact that it feels like an “old 80s movie,” referencing The Big Chill, among other siblings.
With decent performances from most of the core cast, including Grace, Parker, Minghella and Levy, the strongest performances come from indie starlet Aubrey Plaza and New Girl star Max Greenfield, which doesn’t come as a surprise. While Greenfield as Josh is perhaps the most interesting character to watch on screen, his intelligent cynicism unfortunately becomes cringe-worthy, more than occasionally. At this point in cinema, the character who bashes on technology with the same measly “put your phone down and live in the moment” argument is a tad trite. Films like Boyhood make the same complaints and observations about technology, but in longer, more elaborate ways that make more sense than the plain, cliche statements you hear everyday in the office.
Without giving too much away, one quickly begins to realize that the core group in the film are pretty similar to ensemble groups seen in Friends or How I Met Your Mother. That is to say that they are playing relationship musical chairs; everyone has slept with everyone, and it doesn’t seem to negate the closeness or openness of the group, but rather, seems to improve it.
Zwick could have done a tad better job with character development and arcs as opposed to throwing in “juicy” yet meaningless pseudo-dramatic events like small car wrecks, etc. On the plus side, the film’s soundtrack is hip and hits all the right spots and, when appropriate, fills you with the appropriate emotion. In the flashback scene that concludes the film, I was taken aback by how sentimental I became.
About Alex does not break any new ground in cinema whatsoever, but it doesn’t attempt to. It’s a surprisingly emotional debut from writer/director Zwick, and though the film feels extremely familiar, as do most of the characters that appear in it, it’s a warm, comfy way to spend 90 minutes.
