★★★ (3 out of 4)
Yup, it does sound like another stupid sexcom, the smutty kind that washes up on some low-rent streaming service. But nooo. “The Threesome” is opening today in legit theaters where ticketbuyers may be surprised to find it’s not the bottom-feeder they feared. It’s not Preston Sturges either. But the genuine feelings that creep in between the cheap laughs count as a real bonus. And, hey, this thing premiered in March to solid reviews at South By Southwest.
So get your mind out of the gutter and watch “The Threesome” with an open mind. And ignore the logline from SXSW: “Connor wants to start a real relationship with Olivia. While out on a date, the two meet Jenny, one thing leads to another, and they have a threesome. In a strange twist of fate, both Jenny and Olivia end up pregnant.”
There’s a knotty proposition hiding behind the hot breath of that sex-sells pitch and “The Threesome” aims to tease it out. Note that director Chad Hartigan (“Morris from America”) and screenwriter Ethan Ogilby have some indie cred and the good sense to cast actors willing to see past the obvious. Zoey Deutch, up next as the tragic “Breathless” star Jean Seberg in Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague,” can think on camera and the talent to make sure her thoughts really register.
Deutch plays Olivia, a waitress and full-time commitment-phobe who keeps freezing out sweet-sexy Connor (Jonah Hauer-King, Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid), a sound engineer who practically swoons when Olivia looks his way. Still, Olivia feels a slight tinge of jealousy when a customer named Jenny (Ruby Cruz of “Mare of Easttown”) responds to Connor’s charm vibe.
All three end up at Connor’s apartment playing a weed-fueled game of Truth or Dare, leading to the threesome and the later pregnancy announcement. In, say, a Nancy Meyers movie, everyone would choose the right partner and end up living in well-appointed, Town and Country luxury or a reasonable facsimile of same.
Happily, “The Threesome” is allergic to happy endings. Connor’s bartender friend Greg (the appealing Jaboukie Young-White) finds the whole thing a titillating hoot. No one else does. Olivia leans toward abortion, while Jenny, from a strict religious background, wouldn’t think of it. The potential baby or babies, as the case may be, triggers each character to imagine their lives if they make the wrong decision. It’s messy and complicated with its shifting perspectives, and the movie is all the better and more honest for it.
Hartigan and Ogilby provide no tidy ribbons to send the characters and the audiences home without the nagging anxieties that tend to intrude in real life. In the end, “The Threesome” lacks the courage to fully engage with its more abrasive impulses. But you can still feel the sandpaper in the script rubbing away at the champagne sex fantasy it's selling on the surface. I call that progress.