Beer Man Movie Review-"Drinking Buddies" (2013) ****

     Luke and Kate are co-workers at a Chicago brewery, where they spend their days drinking and flirting. They're perfect for each other, except that they're both in relationships. Luke is in the midst of marriage talks with his girlfriend of six years, Kate is playing it cool with her music producer boyfriend Chris. But you know what makes the line between "friends" and "more than friends" really blurry? Beer. (Summary provided by www.imbd.com)

     This movie is directed by Joe Swanberg and stars Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Ana Kendrick and Ron Livingston.  This movie runs 90 minutes/ an hour and a half and is a comedy/drama/romance/beercomadramaance.

     If any readers didn't realize it's a fact that I like beer.  So I get to watch this movie that is involving brewery workers.  The beer geek in me was overly excited and the film delivers.  This film does a great job of showing the entire brewing process from showing the different types off beer, the hops, the cleaning process and the sales side of beer.  BEER SIGHTING OVERLOAD for this film, I'm going to give a shout out to the beers/brewery's mentioned or involved in this film if I forget any suds I apologize cause sweet beer should never be forgotten.  These are the beers/brewery's that I noticed mentioned in the film: Old Style by Pabst, Abita, Revolution Brewing, Double Fist, 3 Floyds, New Glarus, Founders Brewing.  Beer is a big prop/actor in this film.  I believe it is used as catalyst and subsidiary in many situations in this movie.


     Now it's time to talk about this film as the movie not the beer paradise I previously mentioned.  Immediately I was connected to brewery workers Luke and Kate(Jake Johnson and Olivia Wilde) and then I was introduced to their significant others Chris and Jill(Ron Livingston and Ana Kendrik).  This is where the film starts the captivate me.  I'm totally involved and entranced with the characters because of the great acting.  The director/Swanberg does a great job of introducing and showing the evolution of each of these characters.  I didn't know which actors I wanted to be just friends or  romantic involvement, but this film does a great job of keeping me on the edge of my seat to see what's going to happen.  I'm sure a lot of people may find this film slow or boring but if you commit to these characters they will lead you on an a emotional, physical, psychological ride.

     I don't think this is a movie for kids but would highly recommend it for couples and adults.  I think some teenagers would like it for the beer drinking/partying and being free spirited but may be turned off by the relationship complexity.  For readers that don't want anything to do with a relationship movie or parents that let their kids watch this film at the 37 minutes and 10 second mark Olivia Wilde shows her smile aka she is naked.  The beer man gives this film a solid 4 beer cans and I recommend PBR/Pabst Blue Ribbon as the beer for this film because that's the beer I was drinking when I watched this movie.  But to me this is not a film you have to be drinking beer to enjoy, I woke up the next morning and watched this film drinking coffee and it still was amazing.  I think this film gives a great glimpse into characters reacting to everyday life and battling with the decisions of growing up as a person and growing up in relationships.  It's only my opinion but I think this is a great film.  As always watch more movies, drink more beer which this movie will definitely help you do, and be kind.  Thanks for reading.

Justin "The Beer Man" Bryan