‘If You Were the Last’ Review: Cute Couple Anthony Mackie and Zoe Chao Trade Screwball Banter in Space
variety.comAmy Nicholson Hooray! A romantic comedy that revives the screwball formula where two people talk themselves silly — and we only had to go to the end of the solar system to make it happen.
Adam (Anthony Mackie) and Jane (Zoë Chao) are the sole surviving astronauts on a ship with no navigation and no communication system able to transmit their grievances to their NASA superiors who presumably think them dead.
How long have they been adrift? Three years. How literal is the title “If You Were the Last”? Very. But Kristian Mercado, making his narrative debut after directing a string of stand-up specials, and Angela Bourassa, who wrote the Black List-hailed screenplay, haven’t made a film about settling for the nearest sexual organ. (“You have the only penis for a million miles,” CC admits; nevertheless she sees him “like my big brother and my little sister … and he’s kind of like my dog.”) Instead, the swooning comes from watching these platonic shipmates debate why they should, and shouldn’t, settle — only to realize that their ability to have these frank talks is the fuel of a great relationship.
The marooned Adam and Jane are united in their predicament, but in opposition in their outlooks. He proposes the hook-up, arguing that since he’s given up on going home, they should seize joy however they can — he puts the hopeless in hopeless romantic.
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