Director Drake Doremus made his name following young couples through the ups-and-downs of dating and his latest, "Endings, Beginnings," finds him in familiar territory with a woefully empty story. Doremus, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jardine Libaire, rests the story on the shoulders of the actors, hoping to convey 30-something ennui and longing and, in return, draw in an audience who can relate. The problem is, "Endings, Beginnings" gives us very little to become invested in.
Daphne (Shailene Woodley) recently broke up with her boyfriend (Matthew Gray Gubler) and moves from New York City back to Los Angeles, where her family lives. Daphne is ready to hit the reset button and sets up camp in her sister Billie's (Lindsay Sloane) pool house. Daphne is ready to take some time for herself. She has no job, decides to swear off dating and alcohol for six months and really focus on what makes her happy. At her sister's New Years Eve party, she meets Frank (Sebastian Stan) and Jack (Jamie Dornan), who happen to be friends. While she seems to have connection with both, she insists she is sticking to her six-month plan. That doesn't last long because Daphne begins seeing both Frank and Jack, creating a complicated love triangle during her period of self-discovery.
The relationships are bound to get complicated because "Endings, Beginnings" is manufactured for contrived third act drama. Getting to the final act of the film is a bit of a slog because the movie meanders along without much dramatic heft. The movie is coated in ethereal blues, which gives it a dreamlike feel as Daphne saunters through life. The visual aesthetic of the film indicates Doremus and company want us to take "Endings, Beginnings" far more seriously than anything on the screen warrants. There's a distracting sense of faux-profundity plaguing almost every moment of the movie.
Woodley is a wonderful actress (particularly in the teen weeper "The Fault in Our Stars", "The Spectacular Now," and HBO's Big Little Lies) and she's quite good here. She lives within Daphne, but the character is a thin amalgamation of the wayward Angeleno we have seen far too many times in movies. It's easy to understand feeling lost in a chaotic world, but Daphne's self-imposed game of tug-of-war between Frank and Jack makes her a less sympathetic character than one just trying to find her way.
Perhaps the emptiness of "Endings, Beginnings" was a purposeful tactic to illustrate what Daphne feels at every turn in life. As the movie lollygags along, it becomes harder to decipher - or really care - what the purpose of this story was. Doremus is only interested in knowing his characters on the surface, which doesn't make them compelling to be with for almost two hours.
"Endings, Beginnings" will be available digitally April 17 and on-demand May1.
| Movie title | Endings, Beginnings |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2020 |
| MPAA Rating | NR |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | Shailene Woodley gives a lived-in performance in this otherwise thin romantic drama with surface-level characters. |
