They Came Together

David Wain and Michael Showalter, two of the funniest men on the planet and longtime collaborators, have put together a great goof on romantic comedies with the perfect vehicle for Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. Wain directs from a script co-written with Showalter, and it turns out to be a nice companion piece to their brilliant summer camp parody Wet Hot American Summer, a film I will confidently call one of the 10 funniest movies ever made. Wet Hot also starred Rudd and Poehler, performers right at home with the Wain-Showalter brand of bizarre, random, rapid-fire humor. The film takes pokes at drippy rom-coms, most notably the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan barfer You've Got Mail, while also being a legitimate, authentic romantic comedy. Wain and Showalter use the age-old romantic comedy framing device of two couples talking and reminiscing about relationships over dinner and wine. Joel (Rudd) and Molly (Poehler) reveal that their meeting was a “corny romantic comedy kind of story” and, indeed, it is. Joel and Molly are two recently dumped individuals living in Manhattan and toiling away on opposite sides of the candy trade spectrum. Molly owns a little candy shop called Upper Sweet Side. Joel works for an evil corporate candy company opening across the street, a faceless corporation determined to put Molly out of business. They commence one of those rom-com unlikely relationships, and many offbeat laughs follow. Rudd and Poehler are perfect for this kind of material, and Wain remains a comedy maestro. (Available for rent on iTunes, Amazon.com and Video On Demand during a limited theatrical run.)