SXSW Review: ‘The Threesome’ is a Winning, Hilarious Story of Consequences with a Terrific Lead Trio

Actions have consequences, but that doesn’t mean people bother to think things through before they do them. It’s usually too late to come up with a plan when unexpected developments arise, but that tends to make for particularly entertaining stories. The Threesome is a phenomenally enjoyable look at the unintended aftereffects of an impulsive decision, navigating adult relationships disrupted and forever altered by some seriously irreversible chaos that all parties involved never thought could possibly happen.

Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) hasn’t gotten over his former coworker Olivia (Zoey Deutch) since that one time they slept together, but his best friend Greg (Jaboukie Young-White) is pushing him to move on. When he starts flirting with Jenny (Ruby Cruz), a young woman who’s just been stood up for a date, Olivia comes over to crash the party, and the three of them all start talking. An intimate sexual night together leads to a renewed push from Connor to enter into a real relationship with Olivia, but that plan gets derailed when she finds out she’s pregnant, and, just a short time later, Jenny shows up at Connor’s door with the very same news.

The Threesome comes from director Chad Hartigan, whose past films include Little Fish and This Is Martin Bonner, and first-time feature screenwriter Ethan Ogilby. It’s a romantic comedy that Hartigan champions as getting into the messy side of things, not just offering happy endings and cute resolutions for all of its characters. Instead, it delves into the implications of these two unintended pregnancies, which result from a series of misunderstandings, namely the purported use of a birth control pill and a condom, and aren’t quite any one person’s fault that could have been prevented by any singular action.

Having three characters who can’t always claim the moral high ground makes for an extremely interesting and entertaining comedy, one that alternately finds one of them lashing out at another before coming around to a better understanding of the reality that they’re facing which can’t be undone or corrected simply by assigning blame. In that way, it’s a very adult comedy, which features a great deal of immaturity that leads to a need for a much more mature solution, which only continues to evolve as the film presents new twists to its already formidable and very appealing narrative.

The three actors at the head of this ensemble are superbly cast. Deutch is hilariously edgy and mean as Olivia, always determined to get what she wants and most watchable in the moments where she has to finally stop cracking jokes and pointing fingers to take some degree of responsibility. Hauer-King is charming but far from infallible as Connor, whose inability to fully commit to either of the women he’s impregnated in the way that they need gets him caught in quite a mess. Cruz, a supporting standout from a recent SXSW entry, Bottoms, could feel like the odd one out in this triangular relationship that at first didn’t involve her, but she more than delivers with a performance that’s equally parts funny and endearing.

A film like this is bound to take certain dramatic leaps in its storytelling, and it does frame its structure with title cards indicating the trimester that the women are currently in at that moment. But it manages to remain grounded and lets the humor emerge from the way its characters interact, first in that extended night of wild flirtation which serves as a fantastic tone setter for the film and then later in their many uncomfortable scenes where they have to deal with this unprecedented scenario. It’s all in good fun but still manages to pack some heartfelt drama, delivering laughs from start to finish thanks to its terrific lead trio and a winning script.  

Movie Rating: 8/10