Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) make a lovely couple, they’re funny, perfectly in time with each other, go out on dinner dates with friends and cute.
They’re also getting divorced.
As the film progresses we see the couple drift further apart, meet new people and start to move on. There is a sort-of happy ending but it’s not the one Hollywood has conditioned us to expect.
The script by Jones and Will McCormack (who also has a small role in the film) neatly charts the emotional roller-coaster of a relationship in decline while avoiding casting either of couple into ‘the bad guy’ role.
Relationships are difficult things, their endings even more so and this universal truth is nicely captured here.
Celeste and Jesse Forever could have been this decade’s When Harry Met Sally and often looks and sounds as if that’s the goal but sadly it doesn’t come close to matching the heights of Rob Reiner’s romantic classic.
The lead characters are charming, but with neither ever looking like they’ll end the movie alone and adrift it’s ultimately hard to care too much whether they’ll reunite or move on to pastures new.
Our verdict: 3/5
