“On the Rocks” Review: A Lighthearted and Captivating Dramedy

On The Rocks is written and directed by Sofia Coppola and stars Rashida Jones as Laura, a middle aged woman who reunites with her larger-than-life playboy father Felix (played by Bill Murray) to investigate her suspicion that her husband is cheating on her.

The first thing that really stood out to me is the spot on pacing. Normally for movies distributed by A24, they feel very slow and end very abruptly. This is the exact opposite for this film. For the entire 96 minute runtime, this film feels very paced fast and dosen’t drag on in the slightest. This also really helps this film because as a whole it is very captivating. At a glance the story might not sound like an ideal film, but it kept my attention and I was never bored once.

Something else I really liked about this film is the overall tone. Sofia Coppola's previous films have been rather depressing and somewhat dreary, but this film is much more light-hearted in comparison to those. The film feels much more like a dramedy than just a full on drama, and I really appreciated that. However, the glue that really holds this film together is the excellent performances from Rashida Jones and Bill Murray. Both of them give extremely raw and nuanced performances and they have excellent chemistry, which really make this film worth the watch.

While I did really like this film, there are a couple of problems that I'd like to discuss. My main issue is the lack of background music. While the screenplay and tone prevent this film from feeling slow paced, I really thought that a little bit of background music would've amped up the film even more, which leads me on to my second problem. While this film is much more lighthearted and entertaining than Coppola's previous works, the atmosphere still felt somewhat dreary. I attribute this to Philippe Le Sourd's cinematography. While the film is very beautifully shot, I feel that the style and muted colors of the cinematography didn't really work for this film.

All problems aside, this is a fantastic movie. While I felt that there could've been more background music and different cinematography, there are so many things to praise that more than make up for the flaws. The film is fast paced, captivating, entertaining, lighthearted, and has performances from Rashida Jones and Bill Murray that really hold the film together. I definitely recommend checking this one out on Apple TV+ on October 23rd. A perfect film to watch for an older audience.

Final Grade: A-

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