On The Rocks (2020) Review: Written By Jaeden Noel

On The Rocks is the new film directed by Sofia Coppola starring Rashida Jones, Bill Murray & Marlon Wayans. Following Laura (Jones), who is concerned her husband Dean (Wayans) is cheating on her, she teams up with her eccentric father Felix (Murray) to get to the bottom of things. Setting a solid balance between a dramatic family story and a rom-com adventure, On The Rocks is a fun, heartwarming time that  will surely free your mind from the worlds troubles for 90-something minutes. 

For both Rashida Jones & Marlon Wayans, these are one of their best performances to date. Rashida utilizes both her body language and her unique sense of style she brings to every character to give a great counter part to Bill Murray, who absolutely kills it as usual. For Marlon, it was nice to see him in a much more serious, toned down role unlike what we usually get from him. Even the child actresses in the film deliver smile worthy performances that when all combined together, create an extremely sweet family dynamic through the entire film. 

Sofia Coppola blows it out of the park with her evidently talented directing skills, but who is that news to? What truly stood out was Phillipe Le Sourd's absolutely beautiful cinematography. Combined with beautiful colour palettes on the backdrop of New York City, it's impossible to go wrong. Coppola's screenplay is an interesting one at that. Rather than focusing on the affair plot, the film instead shifts mainly into the story of the father-daughter relationship between Laura and Felix, with the affair sort of as a tool bringing them together. 

Without going into spoiler's it was a tad disappointing to see where the film finally ends up, almost feeling like a Hollywood cop-out in the sense that it could of been so much more than what it ultimately was. I feel like a lot of people will have different reactions and opinions to it as we have already been seeing, but I guess we will have to wait & see. 

At the end of the day, On The Rocks is a sweet movie that will cater to almost everyone. Those who are looking for simple film to watch casually will enjoy it a ton just as will those who are looking for a good Indie project backed by one of the biggest companies in the world. (Ironic right?) 

On The Rocks gets a 3.5/5!