While the film has a very traditional Rom-Com plot structure, it completely subverts the traditional story that would take place within said structure. The movie is an uncomfortably harsh look at a crumbling relationship through the lens of traditional romantic comedy tropes. A husband takes his wife to a ski lodge for a getaway but, surprise, his ex is there and she recently bought the place. However instead of using this situation just to play out whacky hijinx, we find out that the exes used this lodge as a romantic getaway many times throughout their relationship. The husband is taking his wife here to hopefully spark something into a loveless relationship by taking her to a place he used to frequent with an ex he loves more than her. Watching the couple fall apart just feels so real. From the arguments about the husband's bizarre and specific sexual kinks, to those very real, little moments of spite subtly thrown into casual conversation between a toxic couple, anyone who has ever been in a relationship that they should've left a long time ago but were to scared to do so will absolutely relate to this movie. And the fact that they manage to do this within a very typical rom-com setup just makes the film even more clever. Also the performances of the lead couple are excellent, and help sell the very realistic nature of their failed relationship. And finally, I have to praise the direction, their is some excellent framing and great camera work, with some surprising long takes. You just don't tend to see that type of effort put into the direction of these types of movies. Even some of the better rom-coms tend to be very flatly directed, so seeing so much effort put into this film really made me appreciate it. It's not perfect. It has too many subplots, and while some of these are subversive of their typical counterparts (which is why I think they were included) they don't really need to be there, and do make the narrative feel messy at times. Either way, it's a very good, very overlooked film that I think is smarter than some may realize
Review of Three Night Stand
