You can (sorta) go home again
Alison Brie takes on life, love & regrets in 'Somebody I Used to Know'
For Alison Brie, her new comedy “Somebody I Used to Know,” streaming Friday on Prime Video, is the best kind of family affair.
Brie stars and co-wrote “Somebody” with her husband Dave Franco who also directs. “This started with our experience working together on Dave’s directorial debut ‘The Rental,’” she said of the hit 2020 horror film which Franco co-wrote.
Coincidentally, that had inspired Brie to co-write a screenplay with a friend, so it was natural to write something together, with Brie to star and Franco direct. “It was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had on a set. Something clicked for both of us, realizing how well we work together and how much we love working together. And having,” she added, “that extra layer of emotional support.”
“Somebody” introduces Brie’s Ally as a smart, focused, some might say obsessive producer and showrunner on a cooking series. Her life revolves around this silly show which is, with low ratings, suddenly cancelled.
Ally returns to her small-town hometown where she meets Sean (Jay Ellis) who’s never quite recovered when she left him for the big city and a producing career. He’s getting married in a few days — and Ally suddenly finds herself eager to stop the nuptials without really knowing why.
“Deep down this is an adult coming of age story, a female empowerment story,” Brie, 40, said in a Zoom interview. “It’s a story about reconnecting to yourself. Stopping to take stock of what your life has become and how you feel about it.
“We started talking about this just before the pandemic. We were back home in Dave’s hometown in Northern California and something about being there, we began talking about themes of going home, seeing people from your past — and what that can bring up for people.
“Then we started flirting with the love triangle angle and my personal fascination with this idea of ‘The one that got away.’”
So as Sean’s wedding approaches, Ally feels, “This is her last chance,” Brie explained. “She’s really blinded by her own ambition. She’s a tunnel vision character who’s been applying that to her career. Right now, that career is not there. So she’s going to apply it to Sean this weekend. He has to be the answer.
“She’s the kind of character that has to have an answer. And,” Brie added knowingly, “it takes her the whole movie to admit that she doesn’t have one.
“She doesn’t have it all figured out. And maybe that’s okay! To have a moment of accepting that your life is messy.”