2024 Movie
Dir. Kristian Mercado Figueroa · United States of America · English
An obvious and tonally flaccid romcom, despite the charm of its stars
It’s smart that If You Were the Last takes what’s usually an overused romcom/fan-fiction scenario (two attractive people stuck in one place), acknowledges it, and uses it to fuel an entire a story. Unfortunately, the film also doesn’t quite know where to go with it, insisting on having its cake and eating it too: that is, it wants to be annoyingly quirky and dead-serious about the consequences of infidelity at once, without the tonal balance to sell these contrasting sides. It’s hard to feel for the central characters and their respective spouses still living on Earth because the film does so little to sketch out any of these people beyond surface-level feelings of desire and guilt. As much as it tries to convince us that big changes are happening within these protagonists, the film doesn’t seem to be willing to enter any truly messy territory.
Adrift in their broken-down space shuttle with little hope of rescue, two astronauts argue over whether they're better off spending their remaining days as friends or something more.
"A romantic comedy that revives the screwball formula where two people talk themselves silly — and we only had to go to the end of the solar system to make it happen."
— Amy Nicholson
Two astronauts stranded aboard their shuttle debate on whether they should sleep with each other now that they have little chance of getting back home.
It's a good thing that Zoë Chao and Anthony Mackie can get along so well on screen, because it's solely their comfort level around each other that makes much of their dialogue work. So much of the script lacks the warmth and the authenticity one would expect from two best friends becoming more intimate, which means it's up to Chao and Mackie to communicate a sense of history—which they just barely manage to pull off, despite everything.
In space, no one can hear you scream (if you know what I mean).
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
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