
A love affair that switches on and off between these two.
Maybe “All of You” is something I wanted out of “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” but never got. It’s a drama and a romance that doesn’t take the easy way out, and isn’t as corny as the other one is. Do we really need a test that determines our soulmate? That’s what the movie thinks we need, but it’s not about us, it’s about Simon (Brett Goldstein) and Laura (Imogen Poots). They have been best friends since high school, but they’re more in the “When Harry Met Sally” analogy. They have relationships, break-ups, other spouses, and some wisecracking humor to elevate the story.
It’s funny I would mention that Rob Reiner classic is because I saw “All of You” at the IFC Center in NYC, and at a Q&A, the co-writer/director William Bridges acknowledges that he never thought about that film during production and realizes that after. I myself still have a lot more to learn about movies and their backgrounds, so I totally get where he’s coming at. That and sometimes, it’s in the heat of the moment when you think about something a little too late.
I can assume the movie takes place in a not too distant future, if there is a test that determines your soulmate. There have been attempts to allow people to see their future through fortune tellers and other fantasies, but I would rather not see. I would rather just live my life. At the very least, this test is optional, but I wouldn’t want to take it, even in my own dating game. And the location of the test and our potential lovers is England. Now that sounds like a great place a futuristic concept would take place in, especially since movies like “A Clockwork Orange” and “28 Weeks Later” questioned our future. But we’ll save the psychos and zombies for another day.
Laura is the one who has better success at work than the journalist Simon. She is also the one who wants to take the test, while he believes it’s phony. She ends up with Lukas (Steven Cree) and has a little girl, whom we never really see in the movie. And Simon does get paired up with the teacher Andrea (Zawe Ashton) at one point. But of course, Simon and Laura struggle to keep their burning passions at bay and have affairs. And at times, she calls it off, while he tries to persuade her that the test means nothing.
At one point in the story, it’s basically this. Laura comes to Simon unannounced and kisses him, while he returns the feelings. But later she accuses him of taking advantage of her and calls their affair off. But they keep taking trips and doing role play, indicating that it’s difficult to call it off. It’s more in the coin flip scenario, and romance can be a complicated thing.
Yes, I did mean to mention “All of You” has wisecracking humor, because there are some good British humor. And at the Q&A, both Goldstein (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Bridges also acknowledge how different it probably would have been in the American version. Maybe it would have taken place in New York City. That’s my assumption, considering that’s partly where “When Harry Met Sally” took place and that’s where “Materialists” also took place. But for now, we’re in England.
The love affair switching on and off gets derivative, but maybe not for the concept which tries to have belief thrive over cynicism. Meaning maybe Simon and Laura were meant to be together. After all, divorce has been invented, and we don’t get much out of Lukas for us to qualify him as the perfect spouse. Goldstein and Poots are both very good in displaying the emotions presented here, and they’re both able to spare us the corny formulas and let their characters decide what they want out of life.
I’m still not going to take this test, but I will recommend it as an AppleTV+ movie, which it is.
Now Playing in Select Theaters
Streaming on AppleTV+ This Friday
Categories: Drama

