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Marital strife sounds better set to music in "Band Aid," a relationship comedy that's best when it's being serious.
Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones, who also wrote and directed) and Ben (Adam Pally) fight all the time, getting into f-bomb-heavy shouting matches triggered by things as slight as the dishes in the sink. There are bigger issues, like their jobs — she's an Uber driver with a failed book deal in her past, he's an artist working unhappily as a graphic designer. But the biggest issue is the one they never talk about: a miscarriage about a year ago.
After a birthday party for Anna's godson, the couple have fun playing with toy musical instruments meant for the little kids. This spark of creativity, and fun, gives Anna an idea: Why not start a band and write their fights into songs?
The couple enlist their oddball neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen) to play drums, and soon they have a band. The rehearsal and performance scenes form the emotional core of the movie, with all the songs (written by Lister-Jones and Kyle Forrester) performed live during filming.
The scenes of Anna and Ben relating to each other through their music — and through deeper levels of arguments — are emotionally powerful, and Lister-Jones shows great skill at packing big ideas into economical dialogue. There's also an authentic, lived-in chemistry between Lister-Jones and Pally that makes their marriage, in its highs and lows, completely believable.
Lister-Jones (one of the stars of the CBS comedy "Life in Pieces") employed an all-female film crew, and one could argue the on-set atmosphere was more welcoming to exploring the vulnerability of the married characters. There's one gut-punch of an argument, where Anna is stripped bare emotionally and physically, that under a male gaze could have derailed the movie.
Lister-Jones and Pally are so good together, and their emotional territory so raw, that the movie drags when it veers off into sillier comedy — like Dave and his, uh, unusual living arrangements. Those scenes are "Band Aid's" version of the less exciting new songs a classic rock band plays in between the hits.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'Band Aid'
A married couple set their arguments to music and form a band in this funny and biting look at a marriage on the rocks.
Where • Broadway Centre Cinemas.
When • Opens Friday, June 23.
Rating • Not rated, but probably R for sexuality, nudity and language.
Running time • 91 minutes.