There are romcoms, there are romantic dramas and then there are movies like Which Brings Me to You, that stand somewhere in the hard-to-categorize middle ground. Less a dramedy and more an exploration of how the past informs who we become with some funny moments thrown in, Which Brings Me to You works mostly because its leads turn on the charm and make their mess feel relatable.
Lucy Hale plays Jane and Nat Wolff plays Will, two lost people who just want to be seen for who they really are – even if they haven’t fully figured out who that is. It isn’t a new idea, and yet the movie plays with the ways these two come together, from almost having sex in a coat closet to sharing everything about their pasts. The exploration is heartfelt and believable, even if the movie fails to actually address the reasons behind their traumas.
In that regard, though, Which Brings Me to You might just have made the right decision. The movie does, after all, take place within a day. And though it is possible to open yourself up to someone in that short space of time, and even to feel a connection, healing traumas is a much more difficult thing – one that requires time and often therapy.
The fact that the movie doesn’t attempt to fix everything and instead just gives these two characters space to be, talk, and think feels a little unsatisfying storytelling-wise, but it is the right decision for the two characters and the story the movie is trying to tell, after all. We don’t need solutions. We just need a step forward.
The movie’s charm doesn’t rest on Jane and Will having it all figured out – in fact, it’s hard to argue the two have anything figured out, but that’s part of their appeal. They have loved and lost, and they have made their share of mistakes, but that isn’t all they are. The past, even as they’re telling each other and us about it, doesn’t define them. Just as it doesn’t need to define us.
But Which Brings Me to You isn’t just about how the past shapes you, it’s proof that if you put two charismatic actors with good chemistry together on screen, you don’t really need anything else. Sure, there are flashbacks – and questionable hair choices made in those flashbacks – but most of the movie is a back-and-forth conversation between Hale and Wolff, one that is interesting because the two of them are interesting.
This is, of course, not the first movie to attempt this, but it’s been a while since a movie has done such a good job of executing the premise as Which Brings Me to You does. Think of this movie as Before Sunrise but with a lot more sex, a lot more mess, and way less philosophical conversations. So, a version that speaks to a younger generation.
Which Brings Me to You is, all in all, a somewhat superficial but mostly charming movie about choosing not just who you become, but who walks the path of life with you. And the movie doesn’t have all the answers, neither do we. That part we can relate to.
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Which Brings Me to You is in theaters now.