I've seen some reviews of this movie talking about how toxic the characters are, however I think it's clear that that is the intention of the story and it's one worth telling. The real problem is that this movie is extremely hard to follow because scenes aren't transitioned well and several characters are introduced with no introduction or significance. At the start of the movie, it was hard to tell how much time was passing. Eventually month title cards had to be added throughout. At times it felt like the writers had amnesia between scenes. There was one scene where Willa said she studied comp lit and Matt said he's doesn't read much (not sarcastically), but in the next scene they're in his bedroom and Willa makes a comment about all the books he has!
It's definitely possible to tell two stories with two sets of characters at once, but again it doesn't work for this movie because of the poor transitions. Willa and Matt as a couple are also not interesting and have little chemistry which I think is still achievable when portraying a toxic couple. When the story focuses on Hallie and Owen it's so easy to forget about Willa and Matt.
Lastly, while this is a minor problem for me, it could bother others who enjoy set design. There were some sets that just were confusing or looked unfinished. There is a scene where I could not tell if the room was a bedroom, a cafe, or an optometrist office. Hallie's bedroom has a cactus design on 1/4th of a wall which does not look like a style choice but more like laziness to only have the pattern fit in a a tight frame which makes it look unfinished when zoomed out.
This movie does not fall short because the characters are unlikable or it's about an unpleasant subject. Real people can be unlikable and toxic relationships do exist. The execution is the problem.
It's definitely possible to tell two stories with two sets of characters at once, but again it doesn't work for this movie because of the poor transitions. Willa and Matt as a couple are also not interesting and have little chemistry which I think is still achievable when portraying a toxic couple. When the story focuses on Hallie and Owen it's so easy to forget about Willa and Matt.
Lastly, while this is a minor problem for me, it could bother others who enjoy set design. There were some sets that just were confusing or looked unfinished. There is a scene where I could not tell if the room was a bedroom, a cafe, or an optometrist office. Hallie's bedroom has a cactus design on 1/4th of a wall which does not look like a style choice but more like laziness to only have the pattern fit in a a tight frame which makes it look unfinished when zoomed out.
This movie does not fall short because the characters are unlikable or it's about an unpleasant subject. Real people can be unlikable and toxic relationships do exist. The execution is the problem.