The Threesome (2025)

[BluBonnet]

I have always been a big Zoey Deutch fan, and this one definitely looks like a must-see.

Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy has threesome with girl and other girl — what could go wrong? Everything, obviously. After Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) and his crush, Olivia (Zoey Deutch), find themselves making up two-thirds of a surprising sexcapade with a stranger named Jenny (Ruby Cruz), they begin to fall for each other. But the future they’re planning is put in jeopardy when Jenny returns with a healthy degree of chaos in tow. The combination of a blunt, horny title, a messy love triangle and a buzzy cast that also features Jaboukie Young-White and Josh Segarra gives “The Threesome” everything it needs to achieve the platonic ideal of a young adult coming-of-age film.
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[BluBonnet]

Vertical Acquires Chad Hartigan Rom-Com ‘The Threesome’ Starring Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King & Ruby Cruz

[BluBonnet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ_UL5y-8kw

[BluBonnet]

[The Great Owl]

Four and a half stars

The 2025 romantic comedy drama, The Threesome, directed by Chad Hartigan, features several sequences where angry characters are arguing, sometimes fiercely at each other's throats, but then gradually find a middle ground after each person has taken the time to hear the other out and acknowledged the other's point of view. I wish that we could see more moments like this in cinema, leisurely-paced scenes where we are actually able to watch people thinking and where we are able to watch them slowly begin to understand each other. Many movies show people facing off in elaborately choreographed gunfights or superhero battles, many movies show people running from digital effects dinosaurs, and many movies show people being murdered one-by-one by diabolical assailants, but not enough movies show people behaving like grown-ups.

The titular interaction between the lead characters, played by Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King and Ruby Cruz, takes place early in this screen story, when fun-filled, alcohol-fueled reckless abandon and curious intrigue culminate in camera shots that are wondrously erotic without displaying nudity. I will not divulge the rest of the narrative here in detail, except to say that I love how the proceedings exude a genuine warmness and nuanced compassion for each of these three during their subsequent respective challenges as consequences come to light. One of my favorite parts is a dialogue between two people where one is standing next to a mirror while the other is shown in reflection. Humor is a constant throughout, but in a low-key way that does not short change the gravity of certain situations.

I knew nothing going into The Threesome, since my viewing was by way of an advanced AMC Theatres “Screen Unseen” mystery showing where the identity of the film is not revealed until it actually begins to play. I am glad that I made the acquaintance of this trio of characters, though, in the way that one of the reasons why we go to movies is to “meet” good people.

The plot developments that these three encounter are sometimes contrived to the point of unintentional laughter, namely one particular scene where I find it highly unlikely that two people would both be experiencing the same pivotal life moments at the same place and the same time. I also believe that this film takes the easy way out at one point thanks to a late revelation. Even during the far-fetched times, however, empathy guides us through. As with pretty much every romantic comedy, the protagonists portrayed by Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King and Ruby Cruz are attractive and magnetic people who won the genetic lottery, but they prove endearingly relatable to us thanks to their realizations that, as Spider-Man would say, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Although I do not normally go out of my way to see films in the genre of The Threesome, I find this one to be a pleasant surprise, a tale that riveted me from beginning to end. This movie, through all of its trials and tribulations inflicted on the main players, shows us a world that we should all strive to create, a world where people learn to listen to one another and a world where our complicated choices concerning our sexuality and bodily autonomy are nobody's business except ours.

[ctujackbauer]

I didn't hate it? 3.5 out of 5

Free movie from Fandango. 3X Harkins awards points for 9/5 showings only. I couldn't pass up the deal.

I think it played better as a romantic drama (the middle of the movie) rather than a romantic comedy (the beginning and the tail end of the movie.)

[BluBonnet]

Metacritic