Film Review – Splitsville

September 4th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

If there is one thing that Splitsville (2025) gets right, it’s that relationships are often messy. Sure, the initial courtship phase is fun and exciting and new, but once that is over the real work begins. Differing life goals, financial hardships, diminishing intimacy, jealousy, resentment, etc. There are so many factors that can cause a relationship to crumble that we begin to wonder how people stay together at all. There must be a clear understanding of what each partner wants and boundaries must be respected. Even then, that doesn’t consider the fact that people change over time. It can all get silly and ridiculous, causing people to do really embarrassing things. When it comes to matters of the heart, common sense usually gets thrown out the window.

That seems to be what director Michael Angelo Covino is getting at here. Along with co-writer/co-star Kyle Marvin, Covino explores the avenues of love and companionship. What he finds is chaotic and funny in equal measure. He follows a group of people who appear to be grownups, but when their respective love lives change unexpectedly, they all get caught in a whirlwind of their own making. A lot of it is very funny, but underneath the slapstick is a layer of truth about how difficult it is for people to exist on the same wavelength. Relationships take commitment, compromise, and patience to work. Our protagonists take the long way around to get to that realization. Characters saying they believe in one aspect of love, but whose actions tell the complete opposite, is rife for humor. But it can also reveal realities of life that are comforting and upsetting simultaneously. 

The hijinks ensue almost immediately. While on a drive, Ashley (Adria Arjona) confesses to her husband Carey (Marvin) that she wants a divorce. This tosses Carey into such a tailspin that he stops the car in the middle of the road, jumps out, and runs across open fields, through bushes, around and into lakes, eventually arriving in the backyard of Paul (Covino) and Julie (Dakota Johnson). Paul is Carey’s childhood friend, and lives in a stylish waterfront home with Julie and their young son, Russ (Simon Webster). Paul and Julie take Carey in and comfort him. Part of this involves them having a full-blown conversation as Carey takes a shower, his naked body in full view. During their late-night talk, Paul and Julie share that they are not a monogamous couple. They have an open relationship where each are allowed to sleep with other people. This rocks Carey’s world, causing him to reconsider his own views on relationships. 

What follows is a comedy of errors where all four characters make the absolute wrong decisions. Covino and Marvin’s script weaves an elaborate scheme of shifting loyalties, where characters criss cross one another intellectually, emotionally, and physically. It’s a classic case where no one is saying what they are really feeling until the damage has already been done. They get too deep into their own heads, thinking that sleeping with a certain person (or not sleeping with them) will cause a chain reaction where everyone gets what they want. Of course, that isn’t how things turn out. The constant romantic shuffling takes a toll on everyone. Julie and Paul’s rocky relationship causes Russ to act out in school. There’s also Paul’s questionable business tactics, which creates additional financial concerns. Carey and Ashley’s complicated agreement results in a houseful of strangers who have either dated or befriended both. One must take constant notes to keep track of who is hooking up with whom and for what reasons.

Stylistically, Covino’s direction (with Adam Newport-Berra’s cinematography) keeps the action confined to small, intimate spaces. Interactions take place inside of cars, living rooms, kitchens, patios, and bedrooms. The camera keeps subjects mostly in standard, medium shots. Occasionally, the camera will hold on a specific angle and return to it multiple times to highlight how the dynamic has changed between the characters. A shot of Julie and Paul’s living room is repeated – each time with a different tone. But because the story is relegated to mostly conversations in these everyday places, that doesn’t mean the narrative doesn’t allow for more absurdist sequences. A big standout is a fight scene inside of Julie and Paul’s home. That’s right, one of the most memorable moments is a brawl between two combatants. The choreography of the scene is ingenious, moving from downstairs to upstairs, around and through furniture, incorporating hand to hand fighting as well as the use of weapons. We even get dramatic slow-mo shots that aren’t too dissimilar to something we would see in a Michael Bay film. It’s funny and surprisingly brutal in its physicality.

We see this sort of break from reality all throughout Splitsville. The most striking example – which might also be the most problematic – is the scene in Ashley and Carey’s home. The camera follows both characters as they try to co-exist. Through the use of hidden cuts, time jumps forward routinely. We see them in different outfits and haircuts to signify the time shifts. To add on top of the mayhem is the appearance of several side characters. Ashley and Carey try the open relationship experiment, but that leads to more people showing up at their place. For some reason, their quick flings and one-night stands decided to stick around, only accelerating the mounting stress. The scene is big and ambitious, but I’m not sure it fits with the rest of the narrative. Covino and his team make it seem as though events are happening in real time and in a single camera take. But if that were the case, why not just capture it in one actual shot and not hide the edits?  It felt like the production set off these cinematic fireworks for the sake of it rather than in service of the characters or story.

Even with my minor gripes, I still quite enjoyed Splitsville. The comedy works, it has plenty of heart, and it leaves room for discussion. This is one of those movies that entertain us while watching it, and then we walk away thinking about the questions it presents. It causes us to put ourselves in the shoes of the characters, asking what we would do if we were in that situation. Would we make the smart, logical, and mature choice? Or would we act out as well, allowing our anxieties and irrational behavior to get the best of us? If these are the thoughts the film conjures up, then you know it is doing its job.

Adam Newport-Berra, Adria Arjona, Dakota Johnson, Featured, Kyle Marvin, Michael Angelo Covino, Michael Bay, Simon Webster, Splitsville