Someone Great (2019)

Someone Greatis the reason I want to be in love and simultaneously, never fall in love again.

When Jenny (Gina Rodriguez) and Nate (LaKeith Stanfield)- her long-term boyfriend of nine years- break up so Jenny can move to pursue her career in music journalism, Jenny leans on her two best friends for one last epic night in the city.With an immaculate soundtrack that puts any audience member through the range of emotions that heartbreak bestows and a young and diverse cast to support heartbrokenJenny, this modern rom-com is close to perfect for me. I will admit, my favorite genre of film is “movies that take place in New York City”, so I could be biased. While I recognize the cliches that this movie depends on, there is something about the ways writer and directorJennifer Kaytin Robinsonrecognizes modern feminism through this heartbreak story that makes it special.Female friendship, big life changes, and one day after a heart-wrenching breakup are the key ingredientsthat makeSomeone Greata great film.

Let us talk about the soundtrack first. With a complete range of classics and hits from the year that this film was released, it feels quite perfectly curated. The opening montage that brings us through the good and bad of Jenny’s relationship with Nate is backed by Lorde’s “Supercut” which appears to be a fun upbeat pop song but really cuts deep with lyrics like “In my head, I play the Supercut of us, all the love we had and lost”. In today’s reality, any modern lover is also a skilled playlist-creator so it makes sense for this soundtrack to be so stunning.

When we hear the first few beats to Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts”, what do we young feminists feel? We feel like theTHAT BI*CH! And Lizzo was right, Jenny is 100% “that bitch” and she turns to music to hype her up in the early stages of her breakup. Jenny dances alone in her undies to Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” with a bottle of bourbon with bendy straws in it until her best friend Erin (DeWanda Wise) comes to join her.

The song changes to “Mansard Roof” by Vampire weekend and sends Jenny into a flashback of the night she met Nate. It is a heartbreakingly real moment for anyone who has ever related a song to someone they lost. The music continues to describe moments that happen throughout the film as they happen. Altogether, the way that music is intertwined into the plot ofSomeone Greatis impressive and quite significant throughout the film.

Thefemale friendship dynamicthroughoutSomeone Greatis brought to life by Jenny’s two best friends from college, Blair (Brittany Snow) and Erin (DeWanda Wise). While each of them is having relationship issues of their own, they drop everything to be by Jenny’s side and spend the day preparing for a night at the music festival “Neon Classic”. They spend the day trying to find tickets to the festival and getting themselves into mini-adventures left and right. These adventures included a cameo fromRu Paulfrom whom they buy drugs for the festival. In flashbacks with Nate and Jenny, we hear words like “forever” andlearn that Nate’s lack of direction and Jenny’s flourishing ambition caused tension in the early stages of their love story. When Blair and Erin show up to fully support Jenny after the breakup, it's obvious that these friendships are what really are “forever.” Nate was just a chapter in Jenny’s story but these girls are in it for the long haul with her and they make it clear through their actions in the film.Female friendship comedy has never looked so cute and stylish with excellent performances from Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise to support the excellent Gina Rodriguez.