''Social Animals'' is a 2018 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

film, written, and directed by Theresa Bennett in her directorial debut. It stars

Noël Wells Noël Kristi Wells (born December 23, 1986) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. She is known for her television roles as Rachel Silva in the Netflix comedy-drama ''Master of None'' (20152017), as the voice of Kelsey Pokoly in th ...

Josh Radnor Joshua Thomas Radnor (born July 29, 1974) is an American actor, filmmaker, author, and musician. He is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the Emmy Award–winning CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014). He made his writing and di ...

Aya Cash Aya Cash (born July 13, 1982) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Gretchen Cutler in the FX/ FXX dark comedy series ''You're the Worst'' (2014–2019), as Stormfront in the Amazon Prime Video superhero drama series '' The Bo ...

Carly Chaikin Carly Chaikin is an American actress. Her acting career began in 2009 and she received her breakout role two years later, co-starring as Dalia Royce in the ABC sitcom ''Suburgatory''. She played the role until the series' cancellation in 2014, ...

Fortune Feimster Emily Fortune Feimster (; born July 1, 1980) is an American writer, comedian, and actress. Having made her television debut on NBC's ''Last Comic Standing'' in 2010, she starred as Colette on ''The Mindy Project'' (2015–2017). In July 2019, s ...

, and

Samira Wiley Samira Wiley is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Poussey Washington in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019) and as Moira in the Hulu dystopian drama series ''The Handmaid's Tal ...

. The film was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

on June 1, 2018, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Plot

Zoe is an almost 30-year-old woman who owns an unsuccessful waxing business on the same street as Paul's adult video store. She lives in a tiny home on her landlord's land, but is unable to pay her rent in a timely manner. She takes a Polaroid of every person that she has sex with. Paul's marriage is struggling. Jane, his wife, is a serious lawyer and supports their family. As they haven't had sex in three months, she suggests that he have an affair, leaving him confused and the idea rejected. Zoe attends a friend Lana's wedding and sees Paul there. The pair later speak when she visits his store. After meeting Zoe, Paul expresses interest in the affair idea to Jane. Jane is also attempting to have sexual rendezvous but each time gets emotional ends up crying. Zoe meets Paul after attending Lana's baby shower but is overwhelmed by the fact that he has three kids, so has sex with the bartender there instead. Jane and Paul continue to have moments that appear to promise sexual reconciliation, yet Jane backs out each time. Paul and Zoe do continue seeing each other and build a rapport, eventually having sex. Zoe's best friend Claire points out that Zoe had waited longer to sleep with him than is usual. After having the sex, Zoe reflects on how Paul has three kids and a wife, and feels baited by him. He consoles her; however, she remains conflicted. Jane goes by Zoe's store to book a waxing appointment out of curiosity, feeling she is the one who Paul’s sleeping with. She is passive and reveals that Lana and her husband are already having problems and that he has been cheating on her. Jane breaks down crying, revealing she’s been having panic attacks regularly. Embarrassed, she quickly leaves after the appointment is finished. Some time later, Lana has given birth to a baby and invites Zoe, Paul, Jane, Claire, and Claire's fiancé Justin over for dinner. Paul's aggressive comments about Jane's parenting advice create tension. Jane responds to the awkwardness with comments on Paul's work ethic not leading him to be the primary provider for their family. Following the dinner, Zoe ends all contact with Paul. Jane later reveals to Paul she had paid someone to have sex with her. After their son goes missing, Jane and Paul lay their respective frustrations on each other. Jane feels she did her best so is very disappointed in her “shitty wife” reputation. Paul snaps back, saying her honesty is merely used to hurt people. Zoe decides to view life more optimistically and hosts an event to promote her business. After riling the crowd up, they go to smash the window of her biggest competitor but she's promptly arrested. Claire bails her out, but is frustrated with Zoe's irresponsibility, especially after Zoe doesn't have a plan to pay Claire back for the bail. She tells her to grow up and stop reveling in her own pity party. Paul moves out of his home with Jane and the lease on his store ends as well. Zoe gets her job back at Beer Land and pays Claire back and the two reconcile their friendship. Paul plans an elaborate night to reconcile with Zoe and is successful. The pair begin dating again. Jane moves into a new apartment with the kids and decides to let loose more and live according to her own standards versus everyone else's. The film ends with each character having found more comfort in themselves and more confidence in their relationships.

Cast

as Zoe *

as Paul *

as Jane *

as Claire *

as Sarah-Beth *

as Lana * Adam Shapiro as Justin * Rico LeBron as Fernando

Production

In September 2016, it was announced

and

had been cast in the film, with Theresa Bennett directing, from a screenplay she wrote. Ash Christian, Melodie Sick, Coleman Lannum, Mark L. Lester, will produce the film under their

Cranium Entertainment Ash Christian (January 16, 1985 – August 14, 2020) was an American actor, film director and producer. He was the founder of Cranium Entertainment. He wrote, directed and produced '' Fat Girls'' in 2006, for which he won Outfest's Award for Outst ...

, BondIt, and Titan Global banners, respectively, while

Mason Novick Mason Novick (born December 20, 1974) is an American film producer and talent manager based in Los Angeles. Background Career His credits include ''Red Eye (2005 American film), Red Eye'' (2005), ''Juno (film), Juno'' (2007), ''(500) Days of ...

, Michelle Knudsen, Jeff Sackman, Berry Meyerowitz, Matthew Helderman, Seán Eric Burleson, Gabriel Casey, Luke Dylan Taylor, Sean Patrick O’Reilly, Jon Wroblewski and Summer Finley will serve as executive producers. In October 2016,

joined the cast of the film.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in September 2016, in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Release

The film was released in a

and through

on June 1, 2018, by

Critical reception

''Social Animals'' received mixed reviews from film critics. It holds a 64% approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 11 reviews, with an average of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film holds a rating of 37 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5639898 2018 films American comedy films American independent films Films shot in Austin, Texas Paramount Pictures films 2018 directorial debut films 2018 comedy films 2018 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films