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Good news, we’ve got a new Woody Allen movie. Well, not an actual Woody Allen movie; Allen is reputedly a real creep and I can see why no one wants to work with him anymore. No, what we have here is a film from someone else who has the same eye for the complexities of modern life and the ability to comment on them filmically with an easy wit and sharp insight. Writer/director Michael Angelo Covino also seems to the have a tendency to cast himself against beautiful women, just like Allen did. At least they’re not younger than him and he does make it a plot point. Self awareness definitely gets him out of trouble.

This is only Covino’s second movie after 2019’s The Climb but based on this he could have a long and celebrated career ahead of him just like his fellow New Yorker. Splitsville is smart, unpredictable and consistently (and sometimes darkly) funny and while there are comparisons to be made it feels fresh, just like Annie Hall would have done in 1977. 

Covino is not the lead though, not quite. That role goes to his co-writer Kyle Marvin. Marvin plays Carey who has recently married Adria Arjona’s Ashley but during the very fateful car journey that opens the film she tells him she wants a divorce. Distraught and discombobulated he turns to his friend Paul (Covino) only to learn that his happy marriage only works because he and his wife Julie, played by Dakota Johnson, have an open relationship. What ensues is a comedy of manners with the two neurotic men and their freewheeling partners. If you think from this premise you know where it is going, at first you might be right but then you’d be very wrong. 

There is wider directorial skill on display here too. Covino has worked with his actors to get some really strong performances and there is also is a fight scene in here to rival the choreography (if not the energy) of John Wick.

I didn’t know what to expect with this but I was really impressed. Covino and Marvin are filmmakers to watch and I look forward to seeing them eclipse many of those that have come before them. Splitsville is great and, unlike its central characters you won’t have any trouble sticking with it. I’m not sure it’s a great date movie but put it in your diary.