31 Movies of May, Day 13: Literally, Right Before Aaron
May 13th viewing: Literally, Right Before Aaron, chosen by me because I knew absolutely nothing about it
Year of Release: 2017
Directed by: Ryan Eggold
Written by: Ryan Eggold
Starring: Justin Long, Cobie Smulders, Ryan Hansen, John Cho, Kristen Schaal, Peter Gallagher, Lea Thompson, Dana Delany
Accompanying Beverage of Choice: Xtra (Citra Pale Ale, 4.5% ABV) - Surly Brewing Co., Minneapolis, Minnesota
(Support Independent Breweries - buy local* when getting buzzed during quarantine)
*In spirit
I tend to monitor entertainment news rather obsessively, so it’s rare I get into a movie I don’t already know a decent amount about. But every once in a while I like to go into a movie completely cold. That’s how I come across some of my favorite filmmaking surprises. Sometimes, going into a movie with no expectations does more for your viewing experience than anything a filmmaker can do.
Other times, it doesn’t matter because the movie is shit.
I came across Literally, Right Before Aaron while browsing Hulu the other night, and was struck by how much this movie didn’t seem to exist to me until that very moment. Its leads, Justin Long and Cobie Smulders, are both successful actors with recognizable faces, and director Ryan Eggold has also made a name for himself in movies like BlacKkKlansmen and on TV as the star of New Amsterdam. Beyond that, it has a pretty stacked supporting cast - Ryan Hansen from Veronica Mars is the eponymous Aaron! John Cho is Justin Long’s best friend! Kristen Schaal plays a wedding date! Peter Gallagher! Charlyne Yi! Luis Guzman!
It’s enough credibility to seem like a movie I should have at least heard of. But not only had I never heard of this movie, I couldn’t even confirm whether it ever got an official release. It played a couple film festivals in 2017, but there’s no record of box office earnings, and I can’t really see much evidence of a big VOD push. As far as I can tell, it looks like it just got a vanity release in a one or two New York or LA theaters. I expect the reason is because it is bad.
Now, it’s not so bad as to be incompetent. If anything, the major flaw of Literally, Right Before Aaron is just the roteness of its plot, at least up to a point. It’s hard to enjoy surprises when a movie is entirely by the numbers, and through its first two acts, Literally, Right Before Aaron offers up a story done a million times before. Long plays a 30-ish guy who finds out his ex-girlfriend (Smulders) is getting married, sending him into crisis mode as he wonders how he let her get away and what he should do now. He heads to San Francisco for the wedding and is faced with trying to get his emotions and his life in order. Every scene in the first hour of this movie has been done dozens of times.
The third act actually did surprise me, though, by taking a chaotic turn and having Long’s character go full misanthrope. At least his was unexpected given the predictable path the movie had taken so far, but everything around Long’s heel turn makes no sense. Smulders’ reactions at the end of the film feel completely unmoored from the viciousness inflicted upon her. The film’s credits show footage of Long on some sort of international trip, seemingly having achieved growth and some sort of peace, yet the movie does not show him getting anywhere near that point prior to the credits rolling.
I take solace in knowing that this kind of experience is both why I enjoy learning about movies before seeing them, and also why those rare surprises feel so good. It only makes sense to be surprised by a good movie if you know full well that a lot of the random things you watch will be awful.
