Directors: David Joseph Craig, Brian Crano
Writers: David Joseph Craig, Brian Crano
Stars: Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Amanda Seyfried
Synopsis: Stranded in rural Italy without transportation or language skills, an American couple on the verge of adopting tries to reconnect during a disastrous vacation, as their fears and relationship problems threaten to boil over.
It’s very hard to communicate with a person who doesn’t share a common language. As much as Americans believe English is ubiquitous, there are many people out there that don’t understand a single syllable of it. Most English speakers also have more trouble with language than they admit even if it’s a language they recognize. A spoken language is never an academic exercise and a person who has spoken that language their entire life wouldn’t be likely to speak as basically as what you would learn in a classroom. A lot can be misinterpreted. That is one of the central conceits of I Don’t Understand You.
When Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells) get to Italy to celebrate their anniversary and try to avoid the anxiety that comes with their hopes about adopting a child, they run afoul of many of these sticky situations including within the horror piece of the film. The script, written by David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano, is very funny in this situation of increasing misunderstanding when it comes to a simple accident. The escalation is anxiety inducing and the body count becomes funnier as Dom and Cole assume it has to be the last death every time.
Though, when coupled with the other plot, the one where Dom and Cole are about to become parents, there is a dissonance. It’s tough to say what’s exactly wrong, but there is a pervasive feeling that there is something off. The script is funny throughout, but the sincere story of adoption and the couple’s anxieties around parenthood is a little too much of a swing in the other direction for the zaniness of accidental murder to land.
It also takes far too long to get to the gory bits. The lead up being this utterly charming gay couple and their struggles with adoption makes you want to just watch their relationship and maybe have more heart to hearts about parenting. The completely funny and valid section where the two of them accidentally kill some people feels too separate. It almost feels as if that section of the film is some kind of anxiety dream. Like the two of them somehow share a subconscious for several hours and then snap out of it during the drive back to their hotel. It’s a tough transition to unpack and it feels very obtuse.
What never feels false, though, is the chemistry between Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells. These two feel so very comfortable with each other and their banter is hysterical. Kroll brings his “guy who thinks he knows everything” persona and Rannells brings his lightning delivery and wit. They have an effervescent style and you almost want just a road trip movie with the two of them as a couple because their car scenes are so enjoyable.
It’s hard not to like I Don’t Understand You. It’s just also hard to be clutching your heart at something sweet and touching, then covering your mouth with the shock of arterial spray. There’s no clear demarcation or strong tonal shift. It just sort of happens in the moment. It may be that the time anticipating the murder and the blood is more anxiety producing than the actual murder and blood, but it’s hard to say. You really just have to give the film a shot and know that you might choke up due to a sweet couple adopting a baby and choke down bile at some gruesome makeup a few minutes later.
