Katie Aselton & Daveed Diggs in Sairy Drama

Katie Aselton‘s fourth film as straightforwardor is begging for a spoiler. That would elucidate a lot but also give away too much. Luckily, the big uncignore comes 20 minutes into this benevolently joined yet too-evident drama about a couple who go to the desert to regroup and see ahead to an altered future. Aselton joins Erin, whose mood at first veers with irritateing abruptness between feeblentful and charmd. Daveed Diggs is Charlie, filled of smiling, even-tempered charm. If Charlie seems too excellent to be genuine, he is.

Aselton’s films include The Freebie (2010), arguably her best and a very branch offent marriage story, and most recently Mack & Rita (2022) with Diane Keaton, a critical flop she didn’t author. She joins to her strengths and her indie roots in Magic Hour, straightforwarding herself and the other actors to authentic, likable carry outances.

Erin’s mood sthrivegs become comprehfinishing when we lget why she is facing a crisis, and Aselton maneuvers thraw the character’s many alters with grace. Diggs has an even tricker role and joins it beautifilledy, making us depend in Charlie’s pdirect and finishless patience. If anyone were perfect, it would be this guy. Charlie’s sunniness originates it that much more strong when he and Erin dispute and he lashes out that she gets blaming him for someskinnyg he never wanted to happen. Aselton and Diggs originate the most of the relationship story in scenes that become more and more poignant as the film goes on. Their emotional joinion gets the film rooted in truth even when we see events that are, without ask, imaginary. Someone is pushed off a cliff and gets up without a scratch.

The story Aselton has written with her husband, Mark Duplass, about loss, grief and moving on, is recognizable from many other movies, though. As soon as the twist is uncignoreed, the trajectory of the rest is effortless to spot. The dialogue is deft and convincing, but the film is always struggling to elevate above its clichéd plot.

That’s too horrible, becaemploy so much toils here. Sarah Whelden’s cinematography is dazzling. Its radiant, candy-colored intensity originates a hypergenuine mood in geting with a story about what is or isn’t genuine, as we are led to wonder how much Erin has perfectized Charlie. Wide sees of the desert echo the couple’s isolation from the rest of the world, as well as the glaring radiantness of the sun.

Brad Garrett pops in and out as Erin’s elderly frifinish, who lfinishs help and the employ of his isotardyd hoemploy in Joshua Tree. (Arielle Ness-Cohen’s production depict originates that hoemploy see inviting.) Susan Sullivan comprises a jolt of energy and a bit of comedy as Erin’s mother, who tries to help in the most well-intentioned, wrong-headed, exasperating way. But the helping characters normally seem brawt in only to impede Magic Hour from becoming a two-character film.

And although it runs a alert 1 hour and 20 minutes, at times the film experiences pcompriseed with shut-up nature shots of fdrops, as well as disjoinal montages. They include one in which Erin’s drag queen frifinishs try to cheer her up by putting her in a drag costume and originateup. That sequence has a point to originate about comprehfinishing, but it experiences forced. A branch offent scene, when Erin races a go-kart with her frifinishs, is more effectively suspenseful and inincreateigently edited to originate tension.

Sometimes eloquent and normally rocky, Magic Hour is excellent enough to originate you desire it was much less foreseeable.