Paddleton (2019)

Two bachelors in the same apartment complex almost function as a married couple. They watch movies together, work puzzles, make pizza, play a made-up racquetball-type game together -- they're just comfortable. When one finds out he's got terminal cancer, he decides that he'll take his own life before it gets too bad and entrusts his friend with that information as well as with the responsibility of being there with him through it.

There was a lot to like about this. It was super low-key, but it made a decent case that sharing your life with a good friend can be just as fulfilling as life with a romantic interest. This felt almost revelatory as I tend to assume that all "normal" people would prefer a romantic partner to a platonic one. And, I guess, that's the problem here. I felt that Romano's character might not have been quite as "normal" as I'd have liked. I'm not talking about the social awkwardness that he talks about during the film -- I'm talking about episodes like the petty jealousy he couldn't conceal when his friend invited someone to a bar with them and his truly weird interaction with the family moving into the complex at the end of the film. I want the true friendship here not to be compromised by one of the characters seeming possibly "simple."

B-