Review: They Came Together (2014)

I’m really riding out this Parks and Recreation obsession right now. I’ve moved onto the phase of looking up the entire cast’s filmography and consuming it as quickly as possible. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine…

They Came Together (2014) is a spoof rom com of sorts, starring Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd as a couple telling their friends over dinner one night about the story of how they met. They claim their story is just like a romantic comedy, and so the movie plays out their telling of the events. As we all like to do, many of the details are exaggerated, which is the core of the comedy in this movie.

Molly (Amy Poehler) runs her own boutique sweet store in New York City called Upper Sweet Side, and Joel (Paul Rudd) just so happens to work for a huge corporate business who are trying to shut Molly’s business down. It was hate at first sight!

So, here’s what I loved about this movie. The cast was amazing. It had so many of my favourite TV faces in (Cobie Smulders, Ed Helms, Jack McBrayer, Max Greenfield, Adam Scott, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, just to name a few) that I could have happily watched just to spot them all. The comedy style was right up my street. It almost has a Muppets feel to it, it’s so literal, which I realise will probably put a lot of people off straight away, but honestly, I love that kind of humour. 

Just a really quick example off the top of my head: Mollie is chatting with her colleague at the sweet store and her colleague warns her that Joel is right outside. Mollie gaps in horror and exclaims “But I look like a chimney sweep!” and then we see Mollie, literally dressed as a chimney sweep, with soot on her face and everything. It just tickles me!

I think the humour more than makes up for the predictable plot, but I don’t even think that needs to be apologised for. There’s a line Mollie says very early on in the movie that clearly indicates where the plot is going, so it was deliberate anyway.

My one gripe with They Came Together, and it pains me to say, is that some of the jokes fall so flat they’re quite painful. One minute I was actually crying from laughing so hard, and the next, a joke would fall so flat I winced and kind of wanted to pretend the moment never happened.

I imagine this movie really splits opinions, but my score will rest somewhere in the middle.

Bonus screenshot:

Priceless Parent's Guide Finds #1

Did you know every movie on IMDB has a Parent’s Guide? It’s a useful tool for parents to decide for themselves if a particular movie is suitable for their child(ren), and I use it a lot to help my Mum and 13 year-old brother. It’s also handy for me to find out if I’m going to be able to sit through any kind of horror movie.

There are categories for sex & nudity, violence & gore, profanity,alcohol/drugs/smoking and frightening/intense scenes, and users are able to fill these categories with scenes of note.

Well, as handy as the Parent’s Guide is, it defines movie moments in such clinical terms, that it’s actually hilarious, and I thought it would be fun to share some of these priceless finds with you all. No spoilers ahead, not to worry!

As Bill goes through a phone, he sees pictures that the owner took, all focusing on a woman's breasts. (Non-Stop)

A dog is briefly seen apparently cut by half during a nightmare sequence; the head end then chases the tail end. (Inside Out)

It is halloween, several characters are dressed up (vampire, skeletons). A man in a tight-fitting costume struggles to get it off in time to go to the bathroom. It later transpires he didn't make it in time. (They Came Together)

Champagne is seen (Flightplan)

A man walks into a couple (sex implied) - we see the other man's buttcheeks for a few seconds, hear a little moaning (no female nudity). (A.C.O.D.)

A man out of nervous anticipation quickly finishes a bottle of beer. (Her)

Insulting another man, a man makes crude, sexually explicit remarks about the other man's wife. (Run All Night)

The opening sequence has silhouettes of naked women. (Spectre)

We see Ilsa in a bikini as she gets out of a pool. (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation)

We hear eerie screeching coming from inside the walls of a maze. (The Maze Runner)

A man is punched in the face. (San Andreas)

Vlad mentions "boobies" (Hotel Transylvania 2)

A scene is shown where some men have to break into an employer's mother's house to delete an email that her daughter sent her by mistake. (The Intern) - note this is listed under Frightening/Intense scenes

A girl yells penis twice.  (Hot Pursuit)

Sexy dancing at a talent show. (Mean Girls)