Helms and Harrison make "Together Together" a sweet, funny, and lovely indie

Together Together (2021)

Sometimes, “nice” just works. At least that’s the case with “Together Together,” an indie surrogacy comedy with a setup that would sound destined to be a primetime sitcom series. Luckily, it’s smarter than that. It doesn’t go as occasionally broad as the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler vehicle “Baby Mama,” nor does it ever take the Lifetime route as a “Surrogate From Hell” stalker thriller. Writer-director Nikole Beckwith (2017’s “3 Generations”) has more interest in the awkward and the tender in a child-bearing arrangement that becomes more friendly than just transactional but remains platonic, and that is refreshing to see. Expressly for Ed Helms and comedian Patti Harrison as two loners together—but not together together—“Together Together” is sweet, funny, and lovely without falling into the traps of romantic-comedy formula. 

On paper, single 45-year-old app developer Matt (Helms) and 26-year-old barista Anna (Harrison) shouldn’t be friends. But he has the sperm and she has the egg. When Anna just barely passes Matt’s interview to be his surrogate—she’s had a child before but put the baby up for a closed adoption—they begin the process and navigate their boundaries of this unconventional arrangement, along with their own personal hang-ups. Following a failed relationship, Matt just wants to be settled with a family, even if it’s by himself, and Anna is lonely, coming off the end of an eight-year relationship but in need of the money. Matt initially doesn’t respect Anna’s personal space, or her decision to not share the news with anyone in spite of the fact that she’ll be showing by her second trimester. When inviting Anna to dinner, Matt gives her a tut-tut of disapproval when she orders a potato as a side, or he shows up at the coffee shop where she works to gift her a pair of arch-supporting clogs. At the medical checkups in front of the OB/GYN technician (played by a hilariously straight-faced Sufe Bradshaw), they lightly banter about whether or not Anna should be having sex while pregnant. Along the way, of course, Matt and Anna begin to love each other, platonically but still unconditionally.

“Together Together” ends earlier than expected, which makes the film lean towards being slight, but until then, it more than gets by on Matt and Anna’s friendship. Just watching and listening to these two converse, form a bond, and watch all ten seasons of “Friends” is enough without any big plot wrenches. When Anna keeps calling the baby “it,” Matt decides that they need to give the unborn baby a non-human, non-gender-specific name; after a few tries, they settle on “Lamp.” There’s a very funny tampon tutorial that Matt performs in front of Anna, who (off-screen) has coached him in case “Lamp” is a girl. It’s not until Matt throws himself a baby shower, and invites Anna, that the film welcomes a sense of melancholy. Surrounded by Matt’s friends and family, Anna begins to question what her place will be after she has his baby and the boundaries of their friendship; it never feels like a script contrivance but comes from a recognizably human place. 

Ed Helms (2020’s “Coffee & Kareem”) is more charming than he’s been in a while. As Matt, Helms is completely tuned in to the character’s insecurities and neuroses, gradually making his actions feel true and more endearing than annoying. Patti Harrison (such an acerbic scene-stealer on Hulu’s “Shrill”) is the breakout as the retort-ready Anna, getting her chance to shine with her honed, dry-wit comedic timing and moving emotional understatement. There’s no slack to pick up, but Nikole Beckwith has also assembled a dependable ensemble of comic talent. “SNL” writer Julio Torres, as Anna’s barely-working friend and co-barista, brings oddball laughs, while Nora Dunn and Fred Melamed can just show up and be reliable as Matt’s parents. The same goes for the masterfully deadpan Tig Notaro, who doesn’t get nearly enough funny business as Matt and Anna’s surrogacy therapy, but again, this is Helms and Harrison’s show.

The opening white-text-on-a-black-screen credits can’t help but recall any Woody Allen movie, only for our characters to later deconstruct how creepy “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan” really are in retrospect. Like earlier Allen, there is some genuine wit here to both Nikole Beckwith’s writing and nuances that comes out in the performances. Alex Somers’ soft piano-key score also mostly falls on the right side of emotional manipulation. “Together Together” isn’t life-changing, but it is a small gem that’s charming and sneakily touching enough to brighten your day. How many movies do we actually wish would keep going rather than end?

Grade: B 

Bleecker Street is releasing “Together Together” (90 min.) in theaters on April 23, 2021 and on digital May 11, 2021.