On the Rocks (2020) -

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While there isn’t much to say about this lovely little flick, it’s nice to have a watch with movies like these every now and then. On The Rocks is a nice little changeup from your run of the mill romance movie, with Laura questioning the legitimacy of her marriage, leading to an all out investigation on her husband.

So, what’s the catch? Well, nothing. That’s it. There’s no twists or turns, and the climax isn’t very easily identifiable. The acting is fine, the characters are nothing special, and the cinematography is exactly what you’d expect. Despite all of this, I want to make one thing very clear: I enjoyed this movie! On The Rocks is the type of movie you throw on in the background and forget about, but won’t struggle with picking back up on when you inevitably get bored of scrolling Instagram and you remember you put something on the TV.

Despite all of this, I only gave it 2.5 stars. Why? To be honest, I think this movie’s potential is heavily bottlenecked by the plot concept. With nothing special going on, this movie can only be so good. Now, it does what it’s supposed to very well, but without anything to leave its mark on the viewer, it will be forgotten about just like every other movie that scores an average rating. One thing I do feel that On The Rocks did exceptionally well was the pacing. Everything was so well spaced. We don’t spend too long in the exposition like some movies fall victim to, and the falling action and resolution don’t feel rushed which makes the movie feel very well rounded. Sometimes I hate coming out of a movie feeling like there are stones left unturned, or that something was rushed through too quickly at the end, but I didn’t feel this way with On The Rocks.

Without completely overhauling the plot to the point where the movie would basically be something entirely new, this film reaches nearly its full potential with hardly any possible complaints. I liked it, and I think most people will come out of it feeling like it was worth the watch. I guess the only thing left to do now is to check it out for yourself!