by alexwrightmovieman

DIR: Dan Berk, Robert Olsen

CAST: Maika Monroe, Jake Lacy

Significant Other, a sci-fi thriller set in the woods during a couple’s backpacking trip, is not a terrible film. It is a film that no one asked for, but got anyway, and will continue to get in the streaming wars era, where content above quality trumps all other business decisions. The plot, a short one, focuses on two young lovers, Ruth (Monroe) and Harry (Lacy). They are driving into the wilderness to a trailhead for a backpacking trip, shortly after a red meteor lands in what will presumably be their permit area. Someone once said that the best way to determine if a couple is right for each other is to stick them in a place with no one else around and no phone service. If they can survive a week without killing each other, then they are meant to be. When observing Ruth and Harry, it is hard to imagine this going the distance. Though they have been together six years, the chemistry between Monroe and Lacy doesn’t seem to be there. Monroe gives a very subdued and depressing performance. Her character is not one of depth and strength, but of entitlement and weakness, leading to her wandering her life in a perpetual fugue state. There are some allusions to her parents divorcing or something cliche in that degree, but that hardly explains her persistent apathy. Lacy, seemingly a typecast as the nice boyfriend, comes across desperate and unsure, always trying to solve his girlfriend’s problems without really understanding her psyche. The playful banter to one another, when it does happen, feels forced and uncomfortable. This makes Harry’s marriage proposal to her in the middle of the woods all the more puzzling. We’re just not buying it, even though he did propose with one hell of a view. But hey, this is all boring relationship stuff. What about that meteor? Obviously it’s not a rock. That would be quite mundane, much like the camaraderie just described. No, it carries something bad, as often these things do. Call it a spoiler if you will, but if you have experienced your basic canon of alien flicks, you can guess where this is going. It is an alien or parasite of some sort, scanning the Earth for a future invasion. Like John Carpenter’s The Thing it can replicate whatever it wants to, leaving the audience guessing what is real and what is not. Also paying homage to The Thing (or ripping off, if you’re not in a conversation with someone like Tarantino), Significant Other is buoyed greatly by its setting, which is a charatcer all on its own. The woods and the Arctic are isolated places where getting rescued from an otherworldly invasion is less than ideal than if it were to happen on Wall Street (although don’t expect too much sympathy from a stock broker as you would from a scientist or a fellow outdoors traveler). The huge difference is execution and timing. 2022 does not need another The Thing wannabe. Yes, it is hard to be original these days, but not impossible. Thank goodness Significant Other is a modest 84 mintues long. It gives us just enough time to try and guess what will happen and pray that we are wrong for once. There are glimpses of promise in this regard. And then we see the final shot before credits, throw up our arms and shout, “of course that would happen!”. Not a great way to leave the theater, or the living room. Rated R.