I Don’t Understand You review
A mostly amusing series of misunderstandings that struggles to find a second gear.
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I Don’t Understand You
Directed by David Joseph Craig and Brian Cano
Written by David Joseph Craig and Brian Cano
Starring Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells
I Don’t Understand You Review
I Don’t Understand You is a weird mix of things that work well and things that don’t work at all. It’s a comedy with a funny premise…but few laughs. A sentimental character piece that clashes with the body of the work. Likable characters accidentally doing unlikable things. Actually…that last one is the best part of I Don’t Understand You. Forget I included it in this part of the review. We’ll get back to it. This is a movie that probably looked a lot better on paper (or in an elevator pitch) than it worked out in practice. It’s not a bad movie. It’s certainly watchable and even enjoyable in a laid back don’t expect too much way. But it had the potential to be a lot more.
Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells) are struggling to adopt a baby. Not wanting to get their hopes up after being burned before…they take a vacation to Italy to take their minds off of things. A series of misunderstandings lead them to an anniversary night full of murder and mayhem.
I Don’t Understand You is kind of an accidental horror movie. The couple certainly don’t intend on launching into a killing spree…but that’s exactly where they find themselves. Small misunderstandings have dire consequences throughout the story. A wrong turn gets them stuck in the mud…which begins a journey that they will never forget. Neither Dom nor Cole is fluent in Italian. As a result…most of the foreign dialog in I Don’t Understand You comes without subtitles. The movie leaves you as confused by what’s going on around them as they are. Except…sometimes there are subtitles. It was weird. It didn’t always happen when Dom (and his limited vocabulary) understood something…mostly just when the movie wanted us to have the information, I guess.
It’s a bold choice. Leaving a lot of the spoken words in a movie left a mystery might drive some people crazy. That’s the point, of course…and I applaud the decision. Scenes work better when you can’t cheat what the couple knows. It lends an authenticity to the proceedings that was appreciated. I did wonder what people who don’t like reading subtitles during movies thought of it. I’d like to think they were even more frustrated without them.
The setup for I Don’t Understand You is a strong one. Dom and Cole (eventually) make their way to a rural restaurant (in the chef’s home) and can’t understand anything she says to them. When the power goes out…and the woman ends up accidentally tumbling down the stairs…wackiness ensues. Everyone can picture themselves in this terrifying situation. You’re in a foreign country…unable to speak or understand the language…and you’re staring at a dead body that you will surely be blamed for. Despite this, and future, deaths at the (incidental) hands of Dom and Cole…I Don’t Understand You plays out as a comedy. Kroll and Rannells are very likable leads and their loving bickering and questionable problem solving is consistently amusing. But it’s rarely funny. It’s a movie that is surprisingly light on laughs given it has funny people in it.
That’s not a deal breaker, however. It’s amusing enough to skate by without memorable laugh lines. The biggest problem facing I Don’t Understand You comes from bookending the story of an unintentional killing spree with an emotional arc about prospective adoptive parents. I get it. The adoption angle is the key character background for Dom and Cole. You don’t want two dimensional characters, right? The problem is that this character background doesn’t mesh well with this plotline. A couple struggling with their relationship getting into this kind of situation while trying to solve their issues and coming out stronger on the other side is a lot cleaner. It wouldn’t make for tone shifts as radical as are found here.
With that said…Kroll and Rannells are very good in I Don’t Understand You. You buy into their chemistry…which is important. They keep dark moments light with funny asides and mumbled critiques. Good people accidentally doing bad things is a fun concept. Kroll and Rannells completely retain their likability even as the bodies count rises. I shouldn’t say it like that…there aren’t that many murders in I Don’t Understand You. More than you’d like to see on your vacation, sure…but this isn’t a total bloodbath. In fact, there were moments when I thought that the story could have used something more. A second main location would have helped. The movie makes good use of its restaurant/home…but we spend longer in it than it can sustain excitement.
If you’re looking for a light comedy with some fun deaths by misunderstanding…I Don’t Understand You has what you’re after. You may walk away feeling like it had the opportunity to be something bigger…or tighter…than it ends up being…but you won’t regret spending an hour and a half watching likable people positioned to do unlikable things. A few more laughs and a character B plot that fits the rest of the movie better and it would have been even better.
Scare Value
Tonally, I Don’t Understand You is kind of all over the place. It’s sentimental and bloody. Amusing and dark. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do a great job of marrying these things together. Kroll and Rannells are strong leads. Miscommunications lead to bloody hijinks. It’s fun on paper but never fully comes together in practice. What we end up with is a mildly entertaining movie that struggles to find its true identity. You could do a lot worse in theaters this week (The Ritual). You could also do a lot better (Dangerous Animals).
2.5/5
I Don’t Understand You Link
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