Drinking Buddies

Love, friendship and tons of beer – what more do you need to be happy? Luke (Johnson) works at a Chicago brewery and faces an impossible choice. Should he break up with his adorable girlfriend, Jill (who prefers wine to beer), to see if a romance would fly with Kate, his best friend and colleague at work (who loves beer above all)?  Since Anna Kendrick plays the former and Olivia Wilde the latter, the decision would be too much for a character in a well-planned romantic comedy. While Joe Swanberg (himself a beer lover) casts Hollywood stars, he works in his usual manner, i.e. without a script, leaving them to improvise in situations he has merely sketched.  He succeeds fabulously, thanks to the tremendous chemistry brewed between the three actors.