Together Together

Showtimes July 30 - August 1
Fri 5:00 / Sat 2:30 / Sun 7:00

(USA / 2021 / Directed by Nikole Beckwith)

While movies and TV shows often tell stories about women grappling with their biological clocks, Beckwith’s film doesn’t assume this phenomenon is exclusive to women. Turning the tables, Together Together tells the story of a single man whose urge to become a dad leads him to hire a gestational surrogate.  

45 year-old Matt (Ed Helms) yearns to be a parent. He wants all of it… the joys of selecting a soothing paint color for a nursery, of planning a baby shower, of hearing gushy noises from friends and family members, and ultimately of raising a child on his own terms. To achieve his dream of becoming a father, he hires the poker-faced Anna (Patti Harrison), a trendy and practical young woman in need of the surrogacy funds to pursue an accelerated college degree. There’s a 20-year age difference between them, yet what begins as a transactional relationship deepens into something wonderfully complicated during the pregnancy. The two develop a relationship that reaches something labelless over platonic sleepovers, uncomfortable prenatal classes, and counseling sessions (with Tig Notaro as therapist).

Under Beckwith’s direction, Helms and Harrison give carefully modulated performances. Helms infuses Ed with an affable edge that gains depth as his fault lines are revealed. And in the hands of the charismatic Harrison, Anna similarly comes into sharper focus with a profound, gradually disclosed backstory that involves a family fallout due to a teenage pregnancy years earlier.

Tender and schmaltz-free, Together Together is an insightful redefinition of masculinity as well as a gentle, intimate celebration of a unique 21-st century family-in-the-making.

R / 1 hr 30 mins.