We rented this tonight thinking it was a straightforward comedy, but it's so much more than that. Huge props to the makers for exploring a side of maleness that we don't often see in film.
When it started, I was sure it was a remake of a European film; we both agreed it "just wasn't" American. And it's not, at least it's not anything like any American film we've seen before.
A bunch a men meet once a month to talk. "Check in," they call it. Twenty minutes in, I remarked "what a bunch of women." An hour in I realized that my statement was the definition of toxic masculinity!
They start with superficial stuff, nothing special. But as the day wears on weaknesses are exposed and buried feelings come to the surface. We paused it several times to talk about what was going on, and how we saw it from our own gender perspective. It was a great conversation movie, and I think we learned a lot (at least about each other's experiences).
Eye opening, sometimes seriously laugh out loud funny, sad, and brilliant.
I hope more US filmmakers will take note and give us more films like this. As a woman, I found it fascinating, and it really really reminded me why I love men. 😉
