Dakota Johnson: Splitsville… on and offscreen

Dakota Johnson and the cast and crew of Splitsville, which includes Adria Arjona, Michael Angelo Covino, who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Kyle Marvin, and Nicholas Braun, were at the premiere and after-party last night in LA. 

The movie is about a man who finds out his wife is cheating on him and then gets involved with his best friend’s wife when he finds out they’re in an open marriage. All of this is up front in the trailer that’s set to a cover of “Beggin’”. 

 

I LOVE the way Dakota says, “It was an article” when her character’s husband claims he “wrote a book”, LOOOOOLLLLL. This is her second rom-com of the summer, and while I know there’s been some debate about whether or not Materialists is actually “comedic”, given that love (and also sex) is inherently absurd (arguably more and more so in our times), any love story or a story that explores the absurdity of it has satirical edges. Besides, the point I’m trying to make here is that she remains committed to mid-budget movies for adults and I appreciate her for it!

That said, I didn’t love her in Materialists, I’m not convinced that she was a good fit for the character. It’s something about the way she delivers a line which, in that film, required a lot more … earnestness… and with Dakota, and this is a compliment, she’s giving subtext with every word. So she’s more effective, in my opinion, in a film like Splitsville with an ensemble that’s interrogating monogamy and traditional relationship models. But also the timing of it too, with Dakota’s own personal splitsville making news this year. 

On that note, she’s single now, and in my previous post to this one, I was talking about Austin Butler and who to Gossip Genie him with. Austin and Dakota would melt down the internet, I want to see this happen. Do you?? Squawk!  (App link here)

Splitsville opens in select theatres this Friday and wide on September 5.