Celeste and Jesse Forever

Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg are very believable as a divorcing couple who want to stay best friends. That’s both the main joke and the beating heart of "Celeste and Jesse Forever." The film is clever about the awkwardness that comes from refusing to let go, and it isn’t afraid to make its leads a little bit smug, a little bit irresponsible. It’s not aiming for fairy-tale romance, and thank God for that.

Visually, it’s nothing revolutionary, but Will McCormack’s script and Rashida Jones’s performance more than make up for the lack of style. Jones, in particular, juggles grief and hope so skillfully that you want to hug her and shout at her, sometimes in the same scene. Andy Samberg dials back the clownish energy but still lands enough jokes to make Jesse sympathetic.

The pacing is a little bumpy, especially in the second act where things drag and a few vignettes could’ve been cut. Sometimes the story feels like it wants to be both a capital-R Romantic Comedy and a small dramedy in the vein of “500 Days of Summer,” and it stumbles a bit trying to have it both ways. There’s a montage with no real payoff and a subplot with Elijah Wood that’s only there for some easy laughs.

Music choices do some heavy lifting, painting the film with a bittersweet glow. It wants you to feel nostalgia and a bit of heartbreak, and it succeeds more often than not. But every now and then it seems to mistake aimlessness for realism. There’s a fine line between honest depiction and letting your characters wallow, and "Celeste and Jesse Forever" leans into the wallowing just a little too long.

What really works is how real the messy bits are: exes still sleeping together, friends losing patience, new partners being awkwardly supportive (or not supportive at all). The chemistry between Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg never really goes away, even when they’re fighting. That keeps you invested, even when you want to reach through the screen and tell them both to move on with their lives.

Despite some clumsy plotting, the ending lands with just the right mix of sadness and hope. It’s more realistic than most rom-coms, which might leave you a bit bruised but also grateful. No magical reconciliation, no grand gestures, just people growing apart but staying human.