Floating!

IMDb lists Floating! as a comedy. That’s helpful. Watching the movie, I was only 70% certain that’s what they were going for. It’s not a good sign that I couldn’t even tell what genre Floating! is supposed to be.

Floating! takes two major life events, mixes them together and pours alcohol on top. We begin with engaged lesbian couple Jana and Katha. In addition to their upcoming wedding, Jana and Katha are also looking into motherhood. For their bachelorette weekend, Katha spends a weekend on a raft with a handful of male friends. These include her brother, two friends and the sperm donor to-be. It turns out that not one but two imminent life changing events plus a half dozen drunk people isn’t a good combo. That’s it. That’s the movie.

Floating! often feels realistic but in a negative way. Much of the film is just a group of drunk friends just shooting the shit. That’s generally not interesting to hear if you’re not in that group. So it’s sure realistic in that regard. These characters aren’t interesting and there’s no elevation to the dialogue. This movie is extremely dull because its characters are dull. If I wanted to listen to dull drunk people, I’d prefer to do that in real life, not watch it on film.

The film is also yet another example of a dramedy that fails to do either. I think it’s going for a dark, anxiety comedy vibe. This is a vibe that 2020 film, Shiva Baby nailed. Floating!, however, doesn’t nail it. It’s a mixture of a script with comedic beats but constantly downbeat directing. Moreover, comedy in the script isn’t great. Lots of the recognizable jokes are very broad, body-based humour. We’re talking men wearing shirts with breasts on them, jokes about female productive parts and lots and lots of poop jokes. None of this film made me laugh. It also didn’t make me anxious or whatever the dramatic aspect was supposed to make me feel.

Floating! ends with Jana and Katha reconciling and looking towards an optimistic future. Never mind the fact that this entire film suggests that they’re both wildly unprepared as individuals and as a couple for two such mature life changes. It’s hard to get too worked up though. I just don’t care enough about anything in this movie. Nothing of interest happens in Floating!. Like its title, the film moves slowly and without strong direction.

Overall rating: 3.4/10

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