In this dramatic comedy, two divorced 40-somethings gamely experiment with B.D.S.M.
It’s all too easy to turn a fetish into broad comedy — the more peculiar the fetish, the better it lends itself to glib, obvious jokes. The best thing about “They/Them/Us,” a dramatic comedy about two divorced 40-somethings wading into B.D.S.M., is that it largely resists this temptation. There are a couple of routine gags involving stuff like double-sided dildos and ill-fitting leather pants, but for the most part the movie treats bondage and discipline as ordinary, fulfilling pastimes for consenting adults. “Whatever you see, don’t laugh,” a dominatrix warns Charlie (Joey Slotnick), before he attends his first kink festival. It’s refreshing that the director Jon Sherman heeds this advice and doesn’t default to mockery around these things either.
“They/Them/Us” finds sharp humor in more relatable friction: namely between Charlie and Lisa (Amy Hargreaves) as they attempt to reconcile their domestic responsibilities with their voracious sexual appetites. Both have teenage children from former marriages; bringing them together under one roof proves challenging, and puts a crimp in their kinky lifestyle. The children themselves are a bit underwritten, each with a defining quirk or quandary — one has a budding drug addiction, another can’t get others to respect their preferred pronouns — that give them the dimensions of sitcom characters. Charlie and Lisa, however, are more fully realized. Slotnick and Hargreaves, both underrated character actors, portray them with a rich, nuanced shading that elevates the film.
They/Them/Us
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
