As can be seen in the opening bliss montage, married couple Annie (Katie Aselton, who also directs) and Darren (Dax Shepherd) are almost disgustingly in love with each other: they hug, kiss, tickle toes, do crossword puzzles — everything, it seems, except have sex. How to relight the spark? Darren suggests that they each have a one-night stand, and Annie reluctantly agrees.
In her feature debut, Aselton shows a knack for capturing small talk and the nuances of relationships, from Annie and Darren’s bibulous get-togethers with their amusing friends to their head-on confrontations over, or torturous avoidances of, their ongoing crisis. Her choice of a skewed chronology does not work so well, but her performance and Shepherd’s — sadly more appealing when they’re miserable than when they’re besotted — reveal lifetimes of intimacy, trust, betrayal, and reconciliation.
