The Freebie (2010)

A young couple decides to give each other a night off, no questions asked.

Director:

Katie Aselton

Writer:

Katie Aselton

Stars:

Katie Aselton, Dax Shepard, Maggie Phillips

Cast

Cast overview:
Katie Aselton	...	Annie
Dax Shepard	...	Darren
Maggie Phillips	...	Emily (as Marguerite Phillips)
Joshua Leonard	...	Dinner Party Guest
Bellamy Young	...	Jessica
Sean Nelson	...	John
Frankie Shaw	...	Coffee Girl
Ross Partridge	...	Bartender
Houston Wages	...	Guy in the Store
Ken Kennedy	...	Ken
Leonora Pitts	...	Lea (as Leonora Gershman)
Scott Pitts	...	Scott

Storyline

In Los Angeles, Annie and Darren are a married couple in a comfortable relationship that's lost its spark. They talk constantly, express affection verbally, start the day with high-end coffee, end the afternoon with gelato, shop at the farmer's market, prepare dinner as a team, do crossword puzzles, and talk in bed. Darren wonders if a one-night stand would help bring more sex to their marriage. Soon, the two of them are laying out the ground rules and talking through the mechanics of each finding a lover for one night. They agree to give each other no details about the experience. The night comes. Will this give their relationship a needed boost?

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | drinking at bar | pillow talk | cafe | jogging | 

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Taglines:

A One Night Experiment in Infidelity

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Solo per una notte

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,309, 19 September 2010, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,737, 29 October 2010

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dax Shepard joined the cast a mere 18 hours before filming commenced (from the DVD commentary).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lea: So yeah, let's talk about it. The fact that Will's not here, and I know you guys liked Will. And I love him, still, but it was a long time coming, and it's over, and this time it's for real. Last night I finally did it. I finally was honest, and I'm sad, and it was hard, and it's been a hard time. But now it's done. And now I get to go and be myself. I'm excited to be me, I'm exited to be me without Will. I'm excited to live alone. I'm excited to have my own food in the ...

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Connections

Referenced in Conan: Houston, We Have a Murder (2011)

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Soundtracks

When I Am Gone
Written by Jared Van Fleet
Performed by Sparrow House

User Reviews

A beautiful movie for those who don't expect a comedy

I am surprised by the negative rating the movie got. I guess like in many cases it is not the fail of the movie but the fail of marketing it. Why is this movie labelled as comedy? Just because there are a few moments that make one smirk, it doesn't mean that this is a comedy! So you have people going for it expecting a lighthearted romcom or a raunchy sex comedy and they end up hating it.

The movie is not a comedy. It is a nice relationship drama that explores the problematic issue of allowed infidelity.Annie and Darren are in love and have a wonderful relationship, but their sex life seems to be dead. In order to get their thrill back, they allow each other to sleep with somebody else but it doesn't go as well as they thought.

I think the movie is very well done. Katie Aselton, who also plays Annie, made a great movie. There is an interesting realistic dialogue, high class acting and the emotions are captured very well and are felt by the viewer. When watching the beginning, I wished I had a relationship like this, and I am one of the people who is happily single and not looking. But the love, and comfort they had with each other was presented so well. Later one can feel their discomfort and insecurity and when they had their conflict I felt the pain for them and almost had tears in my eyes feeling their fear of the relationship being over.

As I said, acting was great. Both Katie Aselton and Dax Shepard did an amazing job. One can feel their actual emotions from their facial expressions and movement regardless of what is being said. Having seen Dax Sheppard in comedies before I was impressed by his ability in dramatic performance.

I won't tell what the end is. On one hand I was hoping for more, but at the same time it really brings one to thing and interpret it in different ways, which is a wonderful thing in a movie.