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Information

Year
2012
Runtime
92 min.
Director
Lee Toland Krieger
Genres
Drama, Romance, Comedy
Rating *
6.6
Votes *
24,571
Checks
2,191
Favs
115
Dislikes
14
Favs/checks
5.2% (1:19)
Favs/dislikes
8:1
* View IMDb information

Top comments

  1. firewordsparkler's avatar

    firewordsparkler

    This was amazing. It started off pretty slow, but once it sucked you in, it kept you. The acting was fantastic. I only object to Elijah Wood not being in it enough. 10 years 1 month ago
  2. Siskoid's avatar

    Siskoid

    Celeste and Jesse Forever is a reverse romcom that quickly sets up a couple - Adam Samberg and co-writer Rashida Jones - that's been separated 6 months, yet are still best friends and hang out together all the time. Is it that simple? Well, no. Because humans, and feelings, and all that squishy stuff. When either of them is ready to move on, it causes problems for the other, and despite the evident comedy talent on screen, the movie soon heads into more dramatic territory. The characters are funny, but largely in the way normal people can be, and once the situation starts to weigh heavy, the movie is honest enough with itself to embrace the tone. Structurally, we do seem to leave one character or the other too long at times, but again, I'd call an honest interest in where the drama and comedy lie. As the divide between the characters grows, we must choose a point of view and the film does that for us. 7 years 7 months ago
  3. CinemaDump's avatar

    CinemaDump

    The romantic comedy is a dying genre. Recent entries in the genre aren't making big bucks anymore despite using known stars. Take Big Wedding which had a budget of $35 million but could only drum up $22 million. Drew Barrymore who is a staple of the genre saw her most recent romantic comedy Going the Distance earn $18 million on a $32 million budget. I'm not going to do a whole bunch of research into this or anything but I feel like there aren't too many high profile rom-com releases these days either.

    I think the reason for this is because of people getting tired of the same formula. Studios aren't ashamed of always releasing the same thing because playing it safe is all they know. Why else would we have sequel after sequel anyway. I can understand but it doesn't make for very interesting cinema, that's for sure. I guess there's only so much you can do for a movie between the romance of two characters but still. The standard Hollywood rom-com is like stale bread and that's why a movie like Celeste & Jesse Forever is so refreshing.

    Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) are the perfect couple. They met in high school, became friends and eventually got married. It's the picturesque high school sweetheart affair that sadly ends with Celeste leaving Jesse. They're still good friends and have an arrangement that has Jesse living in the guest house whole Celeste occupies the house. Jesse has it in his mind that Celeste and him will get back together even while he does do start seeing some other women.

    The way in which Celeste & Jesse Forever opens is funnily clever. Celeste and Jesse are on their way to a dinner with some old friends while being extremely intimate friends themselves. I guess that's the best way to put it. Their friends bring up how weird it is that they're both so close and then you the viewer also end up feeling the same way. I guess that's how I saw it but I wasn't actually against them being good friends after their long relationship, despite its weirdness. I just like the switcharoo that the script plays on you. You do know that once they start seeing other people, it's going to get all awkward fast.

    Rashida Jones is the highlight of Celeste & Jesse Forever. She can go toe to toe with Andy Samberg when it comes to the comedic moments and she played the dramatic portion of her role very nicely. It's also pretty cool that she was one of the writers of this movie and just makes me respect her even more. Andy Samberg also gets the job done as do the appearances from Emma Roberts and especially Elijah Wood, who's a very welcome face.

    My complaint of Celeste & Jesse Forever is that there is a glut of comedy. There's just too much and I just feel like it drowns out the nice, dramatic parts. C&JF really does have nice things to say about a relationship between two people who knew each other for a long time. Time is wasted on needless comedy which overstays its welcome even if it is quite funny. The dramatic moments in the film were so nice and very touching. There just wasn't enough time devoted to them.

    I can say though that there are some very funny parts however. Celeste & Jesse Forever gets close in creating the perfect marriage between comedy and relationship drama but misses the mark slightly. It makes for a very enjoyable viewing though and I appreciated the depth of the relationship between Celeste and Jesse. There's also great chemistry between Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones. They don't play two dimensional characters living in a scripted universe. It's heartfelt and real as a movie, if just a bit flawed in its over-reliance on comedy.

    6/10
    9 years 7 months ago
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