They Came Together, pun very much intended, is a warm-hearted pastiche of Nora Ephron’s New York based romantic comedies such as When Harry Met Sally (1989) and the less-good-but-still-has-a-fanbase bookstore war, You’ve Got Mail (1998). Except that Amy Poehler now has the dubious pleasure of playing the Meg Ryan role. Joel (Paul Rudd) is the newly single corporate executive of a major candy corporation tasked with removing the adorable independent colourful candy store run by single, quirky Molly (Amy Poehler).
The pair tell the story of how they met with Hate-at-First-Sight episodes to friends Kyle (Bill Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper) over a very New York upper middle class dinner. There are the impossibly diverse and supportive friends, the massive New York apartments usually only affordable by the ultra rich and a firmly tongue-in-cheek near SNL take on the entire genre of Ephron Rom-Coms.
The casting for They Came Together is on very solid comedic ground with Rudd and Poehler as the leads with a wealth of known comedy actors populating every scene and showing up for entertaining cameos. With straight faces, everything is up for grabs and the film does not shy away from some gross out humour, maintaining a constant self-awareness and winking at the audience who are bound to have seen the iconic films they are constantly referencing.
There are plenty of laughs to be had during the film; which is essentially a collection of sketches, some of which work better than others. However, at an hour and twenty three minutes, They Came Together manages to just about stay inside the line of being welcome. The film does what it sets out to do while not trying to create anything other than a diverting, entertaining night out or DVD night in over pizza on a Friday night.
Mairéad has awarded They Came Together three Torches of Truth
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