Images courtesy of Brainstorm Media and Big Swing Productions
FOR WORSE— 3 STARS
Amy Landecker’s romantic comedy For Worse begins with a delightful relationship montage of photos and footage showing the good times of a married couple before a hard transition plants the same pair sitting blank-faced in a cluttered meeting room to finalize a divorce. In that moment, we can’t quite tell what’s worse: the splitting spouses we just saw happy or the nameless rambling mediator played by former Big Bang Theory regular Simon Helberg. Even if the audience goes straight to wondering what happened, For Worse doesn’t linger.
When Lauren and Chase (Landecker herself and TV favorite Paul Adelstein of Prison Break and Private Practice) leave the meeting with the papers stamping their legally-granted freedom, their exiting reactions are subtly different. Lauren lights a cigarette while Chase blathers about his younger yoga influencer squeeze’s YouTube channel. Verbal jabs of admonishment come from both of them, mostly about what those two actions—the cigarette and the new steady girlfriend—mean for the joint custody environment they are forming for their daughter, Lucy (newcomer Chloe Cleary).
LESSON #1: NO PITY PARTY REQUIRED— As we watch that scene play out, it’s still not clear who’s the bigger person at fault in For Worse, and, honestly, that’s great for what it is setting out to be. When you’re a divorced parent, pity parties don’t last. Responsibility must continue, and healing will have to happen on the move. For Worse works with that energy to focus on the productive steps of this type of aftermath.
Unlike other divorce movies, For Worse does not dwell on the division of assets, friends, or custody. The schedules of life demand that Lauren, a sober and successful realtor in Culver City, California, keep moving forward. This life event counts as a reflection and pivot point, and the best way through it is re-energizing rediscovery. For Lauren, that could be as easy as jamming to a song on the radio after leaving Chase or a FaceTime pep talk about “perimenopausal pussy” from her bestie Julie (comedienne extraordinaire Missi Pyle, ripping off motivational zingers all movie long), but she has a bigger and braver venture in mind.
LESSON #2: FIND NEW PEOPLE OR A NEW VENTURE— Scratching an old itch, Lauren has decided that she wants to act again, giving her a new creative outlet from common adulting. She enrolls in an acting class taught by the eccentric Liz (a hilariously quirky Gaby Hoffmann), and she meets a troupe of fledgling actors trying to pick up, at best, television commercial credits. As Lauren teams with—and also flirts with—these much-younger classmates, the pretend emotions of scenes and exercises channel her existing real ones. Lauren finds new people and small victories to embrace, which is precisely what her wounded confidence needed.
One classmate in particular constitutes most of this lift for Lauren in For Worse. That would be the 20-something Sean, a dreamy free spirit assigned to be her scene partner, played by Nico Hiraga of Booksmart and Moxie, and giving all the glow he can in this movie.. Sparks fly between them, only for Lauren to humorously run into some, shall we say, biological red tape that comes with her middle-age and intimacy. When their classmate Maria (Hearts Beat Loud’s Kiersey Clemons) invites the entire class to her Simi Valley destination wedding, Lauren and Sean plan for it as their chance to live it up and take the next steps in their enthusiastic relationship.
LESSON #3: WEDDINGS AS TRIGGERS— As For Worse makes this setting shift, the occasion of a wedding brings mixed feelings across the board. In one regard, weddings can be seen as a celebratory peak—and, sometimes, arguably “the” peak—of a solidified relationship. They’re grand, wonderful, and often the party of the year for folks. However, being the peak they are, they can start the steady downward spiral of reality, where togetherness isn’t always a party with drinks, dancing, and cake. For a divorcee like Lauren, a wedding is a triggering reminder of failure more than triumph.
For Worse takes a big turn to play that awkwardness out with Lauren trying to keep up with Sean and the youngins and dodging other middle-aged suitors like Ken Marino’s cameo-making dorky magician. The growing discomfort is also channeled through a newly introduced character in the form of Maria’s divorced biological father, Dave (Landecker’s real-life husband and three-time Emmy winner Bradley Whitford). He’s pleased to be present to support his daughter, but Dave is attending this lavish wedding at the house he lost in the divorce, among other salt-in-the-wound reminders of his lessened familial role.
LESSON #4: “WHEN YOU GET HURT, THE FIRST THING YOU WANT TO DO IS SOMETHING THAT HURTS YOURSELF”— This lesson’s dynamite line in For Worse from Amy Landecker comes to echo and ring true the wider presence of the theme it sets beyond just restarting an old smoking habit. There’s a moment of calamity where Amy’s Lauren answers the cursory question of “Are you OK?” with as straight-faced a “no” as you’ll ever see. As one wedding weekend mishap has stacked after another, the frolic now gives way to darkly comedic honesty, as characters realize where—and, more intriguingly, who—they fit best with when the big party has to end.
Sometimes, the low point of a screw-up is the necessary springboard and not the “I told you so” gotcha moment. When that clarity is found in For Worse, it’s treated more as confirmation than a delayed epiphany, which plays truer to life than orchestrated movie moments that plant those revelations in grandiose gestures and climaxes. Some may find that smaller type of denouement in For Worse to be unfocused against all the fling-powered fun people are having. That’s very true to a degree, and this film could use more Bradley Whitford within its tidy 90 minutes to firm up his impact. Still, the wiser storytelling recognition to find positive renewal out of the normal trapdoors to wallowing demonstrates Amy Landecker’s pertinent sense of both direction and performance. With that control, the movie never leaves her grasp.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1376)
