'Together' Review: A Twisted, Tender and Totally Bonkers Love Story That Sticks (Literally)

The House Is Not Haunted, The People Are

But this isn't your usual moving-into-a-house-with-haunted-past situation which would have been so boring, funnily, their house is the safest place in what twisted madness that goes around. Before they realise, they are on a trek, fall into a cave and encounter weird occurrences only to get weirder once they are out and life goes on. Their bodies begin gradually having this magnetic effect as it wants to stick to each other, fusing into each other. They try to fight it but the situation keeps getting worse. What follows is sheer madness of trying to understand why, what to do and a climax that is utterly ridiculous, good ridiculous though.

What’s odd is how quickly the film lets go of normalcy and starts dancing in uncharted narrative chaos. There is absolutely no slow drip of weird. It pours. And yet, you are compelled to stay seated, if not for the plot then for the sheer audacity of the execution. Somehow, it takes the absurdity seriously, and that’s what makes it work. There’s no wink to the audience, no clever nod to let you off the hook. You are fully trapped in this magnetic human mush of a love story.

Tightrope Walking in a Straightjacket of Strange

Together has one bizarre situation after the other, and you keep wondering if the film will ever veer a bit too much into the zone of being absurd to the point where you're detached. It walks in the tightrope too often and just like a man who balances a stick on a tightrope and maybe stumbles to falling only to recover, Together does that constantly. There are scenes and situations in abundance where it keeps getting weirder but that's always the intention. Director Michael Shanks wants you to be grossed out and weirded out but only just about enough. Never too much, never too little. It is like putting salt in your food. You put too much it gets salty and you put too little and it feels bland.

It is interesting though how every food recipe writer adds salt as per taste but that's so vague. Because what is the as per taste here? Some like more of it and some like less of it but the balance is always the sweet spot. On similar lines, Together does hit the sweet spot but you might like it too much or might not like it that much.

And now I’m officially starving thanks to this never-ending food metaphor but I’ll push through because this cinematic soufflé deserves analysis.

Popcorn Meets Prosthetics, Love Meets Lunacy

Man, am I hungry playing with these food analogies but back to the core here and the core, as much as is the bonkers script, is the real-life couple and your protagonists, Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie respectively. There's an obvious and understandable natural ease that the couple is able to bring to the most bizarre of things happening to them on screen. Their love, their issues, their inhibitions, their decisions are palpable on screen and soon the lines are blurred between real and reel life for you the viewer because you're mostly invested in Tim and Millie only to subconsciously know that Franco and Brie are actually married in real life.

They are the shoulders of this film and able ones too as they bring all this madness a lot of method and emotions. The writing is subtle and smart there because when you have a twisted topic like this, you need to work the core emotions scoring high which it does. You feel constantly for Millie, who is obviously doing more sacrifices for her boy partner because he needs to have a dream which is unrealistic because she loves him. It's all sprinkled in there. Her proposal to stay together forever is met with shock by Tim early on, she hasn't had sex with her partner because the guy hasn't been up for it, she is sacrificing her life goals so that her partner can make something of, and so on.

Parallely, you do feel for Tim as well. Tackling his past demons, trying to put his life together for himself and his partner and of course, dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. The core emotions never take over the bizarreness of the concept until the finale, which also is a rather fitting end to what you have been proposed about their relationship from Scene 1.

The Reveal That Arrives With a Shrug

Where the film does falter in its bizarreness a bit, the big question about what is happening and why is it happening leads to a predictable reveal which I am not going to spoil it for you by even mentioning another character in any way. But it does, it absolutely does. And hence the hook ends up being the couple and their genuine love for each other, which perhaps was always the intention but one wonders if the ridiculousness was that important and enough to have this fusioned couple love, no matter the gender.

That said, the final revelation may not have the bite it thinks it does. It comes in, explains a thing or two, and then sits in the corner while the film’s real power couple continues to carry the entire emotional arc forward. The science fictiony reveal acts more as a polite excuse than a revelation. And that’s fine. Because you’re not here for the why. You’re here for the what now.

Final Course of This Strange Meal

In the end, Together is a twisted flick that is obviously an acquired taste but if you do have the taste of this, you're in for a delicious meal. Boy do I need to get on have a meal, my hunger is off the charts.

You walk out of it not sure whether to cry, laugh, or take a shower. Or perhaps all three. It is that rare thing, a gross-out body horror film that is also a tender story of love, sacrifice and the monstrous price of staying together at all costs.

The title is not subtle. And neither is the film. But neither is love. Sometimes, it’s messy. Sometimes, it fuses your spine to someone else’s without warning. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you survive the whole damn thing with your heart still intact. Maybe slightly deformed. But still beating.