Not every Netflix movie can be great, even if you invoke greatness in the title. Someone Great, which feels like a rom-com but technically isn't, has a crackling cast and snappy dialogue, but it lacks the x-factor of the sparkling original films among which it tries to stand.
Someone Great tells the story of Jenny (Gina Rodriguez) on the day after she breaks up with Nate (Lakeith Stanfield), her boyfriend of nine years. Jenny urges her best friends Blair (Brittany Snow) and Erin (DeWanda Wise) to bunk work and join her for a day of drinking, drugs, and a big ol' concert.
The emotional whiplash of realizing that Jenny's breakup was LESS THAN A DAY AGO never fully wears off. Sentimental flashbacks reveal more about her relationship with Nate, and while many of them are from years ago, the fact of the matter is that she saw this man last night.
Not all of us have been in nine-year relationships that ended, but one can presume that that first day is literal hell. Your best friend probably would not be suggesting that someone "fuck the Nate out of you" and the classic "screw him, whatever," mentality might still be a pipe dream.
When Jenny eventually sees Nate (at the concert, which she conspired to attend so she could see him), her breath catches in her throat, and they make loaded eye contact from afar. These people saw each other maybe 20 hours ago. Are they not texting about when to "come get my stuff from your place" or even a stream of "I love you"s and "I miss you"s?
The film romanticizes a devastating breakup as a catalyst for life change and personal growth. At one point, someone actually tells Jenny, a day after her breakup, "You've been blessed with a broken heart. When it doesn't hurt anymore, that's when it's really over. Live in this as long as you can."
Say what you will about pain informing art and all that, but the immediate aftermath of romantic catastrophe is not a fun place to live by any stretch.
The root problem here is that you never come to invest in Jenny and Nate as a couple. The film isn't necessarily advocating they get back together, but you can't even empathize with the breakup as it is constructed. All the flashbacks and the in-your-face opening montage are surface-level at best; they show Jenny and Nate sharing physical chemistry and big life moments like job updates before eventually missing each other more and more as their schedules get packed.
There's one scene — a piece of a scene, really — that gives us a tiny glimpse of what this pair is actually like as a couple. During the college days, they decide to order food, and Jenny pulls up options online. "Lemme see, lemme see. Gimme all the food. All. The. Food," she says (which sounds like a Rodriguez ad lib).
The little smile Nate gives her from across the room says it all. You can text anybody about getting a promotion at work, but you can only wiggle around to a made-up song while ordering takeout with someone really special. This is the relationship, the dumb little moments they alone share.
'Atlanta' star Lakeith Stanfield plays Jenny's (Gina Rodriguez) ex-boyfriend in Netflix's 'Someone Great.'
Image: sarah shatz/netflix
Someone Great really misses out on giving us more of those moments – not just between Jenny and Nate, though they could sure as hell use it, but even with the girlfriends. Jenny, Erin and Blair have distinct personalities and storylines, but they spend an awful lot of time apart during the film. It feels like any two arcs are put on pause while the other moves forward; you forget about Jenny and Nate, or Erin and Leah, or Blair and her boyfriend, when any of them aren't on screen – and indeed, the other characters apparently do the same.
When they are together, it's to discuss the logistics of getting into Neon Classic or to drink loads of tequila (in an admittedly entertaining montage) and pop some molly. If you're going to do a movie about friend-group debauchery, there has to be a larger purpose. Rough Night had a murder, Ibiza had a quest, Girls' Trip had the kind of chemistry and comedy that could carry a film on their own. Someone Great has none of those things.
Rodriguez gives heart and soul to her performance as usual, bringing more emotion than this character or film deserves. Stanfield imbues Nate with his signature strange gravitas, while Wise and Snow play adequately off each other with limited material. Michelle Buteau's delightfully deranged cameo arrives far too early, and though the RuPaul interlude feels like a stretch, it's not unwelcome.
If nothing else, Someone Great is a quick film to breeze through and certainly a showcase for its stars. Though dissatisfying on the relationship front, it might prompt you to seek out the texts that explore this better, or to reflect on your own friendships and loves and what made them stand out.
Someone Great is now streaming on Netflix.
