‘I Don’t Understand You’ Movie Review: Kroll And Rannells Charm In Tonally Off Dark Comedy
Photo from Vertical
From Jeremy Kibler
A language barrier and cultural differences make up the one joke in I Don’t Understand You, a darkly farcical comedy of errors co-starring Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells as gay dads-to-be on their babymoon. Who knew that only learning a few words in Italian from Duolingo would end up in a snowball effect of ugly carnage? That’s a funny idea in theory, but how it all plays out becomes contrived, idiotic, and maybe a little tone-deaf.
Kroll and Rannells play Dom and Cole, a married couple who’s struggled with the adoption process for three years in starting a family, but finally, birth mother Candace (well-played with warmth and decency by Amanda Seyfried) is about to give them a baby boy. The couple celebrates their 10-year wedding anniversary by traveling to Italy, and at first, it’s a romantic getaway. When one of Dom’s father’s friends sets up a dinner for the couple in the countryside, it turns out to be the in-home restaurant owned by an old but still hospitable Italian woman, Zia Luciana (Nunzia Schiano). At first, Cole has to put his vegetarianism aside as not to offend Zia, but then there’s an accident. Well, several accidents.
The genesis of I Don’t Understand You understandably comes from writing-directing team Brian Crane and David Joseph Craig, who are also married. Everything leading up to the dead bodies actually happened, and it’s a shame that what should be a tasty crisp-black comedy just doesn’t ultimately find the right tonal groove. There is some fun tension in Zia Luciana’s farmhouse, as she’s serving Dom and Cole plate after plate and unintentional micro-aggressions transpire from the language barrier. All of this feels like a stage play, especially once Zia’s son (Morgan Spector) comes knocking. Then it comes time to ask, who are we rooting for and why?
Where I Don’t Understand You goes from its first half as a pleasant gay-dads comedy and travelogue isn’t fully foreseen. Unfortunately, once the blood-soaked violence and gallows humor come in, the film keeps hammering the same joke into the ground, until the misunderstandings become all too frustrating. The two sections—Dom and Cole wanting a child and celebrating their anniversary versus Dom and Cole leaving a trail of bodies because of miscommunication—just never gel together. It’s hard to say why it doesn’t work in practice, considering so many dark comedies have gotten the mix right, but that delicate handling isn’t really on display here.
Kroll and Rannells are so charming together with an enjoyably lived-in chemistry that it’s hard to completely dislike them, even when they’re disposing of bodies. At the same time, had we not been asked to care about Dom and Cole and their future as parents, this might have worked more effectively and actually earned its meanness. Sure, two gay men may have their guard up when it comes to homophobia, but as it goes, these two soon-to-be dads evolve into such dolts, casually causing death and destruction in Europe. By the end, the viewer is less sure about them taking care of a baby. No longer rooting for Dom and Cole becomes the stone-in-the-shoe problem that’s hard to understand about I Don’t Understand You.
Rating: 2/5
I Don’t Understand You is currently in theaters.
