A bride, a groom, and a maid of honor that dated the groom for four years. What could possibly go wrong? Well, not as much as one might think, but still enough to ruin everyone's day, and Hulu's got it. The Romantics stars Anna Paquin as Lila, the polished bride who's either vindictive or oblivious or vindictively pretending to be oblivious, Josh Duhamel as Tom, the restless groom who behaves more like a groom who's about to take flight than a groom who thought this through at all, and Katie Holmes as Laura, the understandably afflicted maid of honor who would rather be doing anything else on the planet than playing happy helper to her sadistic best friend, who's in for the world's most awkward toast considering her peculiar maid-of-honor choice.
Based on the novel by Galt Niederhoffer, who also wrote and directed the screen adaptation that debuted at The Sundance Film Festival in 2010, The Romantics opens with Laura trying to make herself look somewhat enthused while she miserably makes her way to Lila's family's beach house, where the rehearsal dinner and wedding are set to take place. After watching her attempt to cheer herself up by singing along with the radio and then beating up the steering wheel instead, we get that she desperately wants this weekend to be over with. And after watching Lila watch Tom wander off by himself to kick rocks by the sea while her mother (Candice Bergin) unsuccessfully tries to tell her that this behavior isn't normal for a groom, we get that Lila and Tom want this weekend to be over with too. But for different reasons. Lila wants to be rest assured that the wedding actually took place, and Tom wants his temptation to leave Lila all alone at the altar like a fool to quit plaguing him. (Because surely he'll feel joyful and relieved once he just marries the girl already, right?)
Candice Bergin, Anna Paquin, and Josh Duhamel in The Romantics (2010)
It's not long before the pieces of Laura, Lila, and Tom's sordid past begin to surface, and considering each of their roles in this bizarre wedding, we eagerly anticipate the rest of the story's unraveling. Pile on the diverse wedding party that's more interested in the hows and whys of the wedding than they are the wedding itself, and we've got one interesting weekend ahead. Trip (played by Malin Ackerman), Jake (Adam Brody), Pete (Jeremy Strong), and Weesie (Rebecca Lawrence Levy) have been friends with Lila, Tom, and Laura since they all met ten years prior, during freshman year of college - also when Tom and Laura began dating. Lila and Laura, known as La-La to their friends, were roommates and best friends throughout college and remain best friends all these years later. (If they say so.)
Trip, who makes her importance known from the get-go, is the first to broach the subject of the Tom and La-La saga. Why Tom pursued Lila is a mystery that's perturbed her over the years, but most especially since their engagement. She gives us the breakdown of the whens and hows while confiding in Jake, who argues that she's being melodramatic but seems more annoyed about having to carry this burden now too. As far as Jake is concerned, it's not a problem until he's forced to see it, and thanks to Trip, now he sees it. But what Trip doesn't tell us, and what puzzles her most, is why Tom asked out Lila during what Trip rehashes as suspicious timing. She has her theories, though, and she's not careful in making them apparent. Unlike the others, Trip doesn't passively wonder. She's vocal, eager, and surprisingly aware. She notices and questions everything while the others pretend it's peachy-keen and not weird at all.
Katie Holmes, Rebecca Lawrence Levy, Malin Ackerman, Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel, Jeremy Strong, and Adam Brody in The Romantics (2010)
The fun begins when Lila bolts out of the rehearsal dinner after the first of many humiliating moments that she should have foreseen but... didn't? She heads to her room for the rest of the night so as not to risk seeing Tom after the clock strikes 12. (She's superstitious.) Meanwhile, the others head to the beach for drunken skinny-dipping and whatever other mischief ensues. It's a reunion, after all, and mischief does ensue. While Lila is locked away in a bedroom on the second floor, voicing her own doubts about Tom to her little sister, Minnow (Dianna Agron), Tom is pulling a disappearing act and the rest of the group is embarking on their own dicey adventures in the name of "finding Tom."
They decide to journey off in pairs, leaving Laura the oddball out because Trip and Pete are married, and Jake and Weesie are engaged. This puts Laura with Lila's creepy brother, Chip (Elijah Wood), who's not only been leering at her since the walk-through rehearsal but also nearly stole her world's most awkward toast award during dinner. The group makes a half-assed attempt to save Laura from Chip, but the couples stupidly swap partners while barely looking Laura's way. So this pointless switch-around still leaves Laura to fend off Chip.
But it's not all bad if you're us (or Chip), not Laura & Friends.
Chip gets pretty real after the other four race off to cheat on each other and run around naked. "It's ironic, isn't it?" he asks Laura. "Asking you, of all people, to convince the groom to show up for this wedding?" Maybe Chip isn't as big a chump as we thought. He raises one of the best points so far and, sure, he was referring to how Laura's friends sent her off to help find Tom and drag him back to his bride-to-be, but he unintentionally raises the question of whether Lila (however subconsciously) asked Laura to be her maid of honor to ensure Tom would show up - to his own wedding. If Lila isn't as clueless as anyone in her position would have to be, she knows Tom has always loved Laura, and that as odd as it really really is, he's not going to miss this opportunity to see her again. (This opportunity, just to reiterate, being his own wedding - to Lila, not Laura.)
Or maybe Lila just wants the satisfaction of forcing Laura to stand three feet away while she's the one to marry Tom.
Either way, nicely played, Lila. But it's still going to be a disaster. Other lives are at stake, and they all love La-La and Tom.
And each other.
If you discount the debauchery and daring stunts that border on adultery, you have a group of friends so enviable that there's a reason they hardly exist beyond fiction. The seven companions balance each other out with their strengths and weaknesses, complement each other at their best and worst, and have a clear understanding of how to guide each other through every bump and hitch in the road.
Laura is the headstrong giver who bottles up her feelings until she can't, Lila is the picture-perfect allurer who knows how to make her friends feel loved and encouraged when she doesn't feel so loved and encouraged herself, Tom is the stable sympathizer who wants so badly to stop planning his life based on what's expected of him, Trip is the uninhibited wild card who means well even when doesn't behave well, Jake is the self-righteous loyalist who wants to see the best in everyone but often fails, Pete is the jokester who's always reaching for the spotlight but seems okay when he doesn't quite get it, and Weesie is the prudent wallflower who just wants to be a good friend and see everyone else do the same.
It's a wonderland until love gets in the way and competitive edges go too far.
Rebecca Lawrence Levy, Jeremy Strong, Malin Ackerman, and Katie Holmes in The Romantics (2010)
The heated confrontation between Laura and Tom is well on its way, coming with it the predictable encounter that will make or break Tom's looming grievances. And La-La's face-off, better described as a meteoric explosion, exceeds our expectations in every way possible. But unfortunately for everyone involved, too many pent-up frustrations emerge, irreversible decisions will be made, and the consequence is an inevitable collapse from which the group might be too vulnerable to survive.
The Romantics shines a light on the complex nature of human beings and relationships, where love and hate can co-exist in one short breath. Bonds are strong but wide eyes are weak, and no matter how tightly knit, few connections are safe from the toll that deceit disguised as aloofness can take. This isn't a story about Tom and La-La. This is a story about seven friends tested by a love triangle that disobeys boundaries and demands recognition. After six years of underestimating its power, accountability and self-discovery will force the friends to confront whether or not their attachments have really withstood the test of time.
