''They Came Together'' is a 2014 American

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by David Wain and written by Wain and

Michael Showalter Michael Showalter (born June 17, 1970) is an American comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer. He first came to recognition as a cast member on MTV's ''The State'', which aired from 1993 to 1995. He and David Wain created the ''Wet Hot ...

. It is a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

of romantic comedies infused with Showalter and Wain's absurd approach. The film had its world premiere at the

2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with ''Whiplash'' directed by Da ...

, and was released theatrically (with a simultaneous release on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

) on June 27, 2014.

Plot

Joel and Molly have dinner with an unhappy couple, Kyle and Karen, and recount how they first began dating. At the time, Molly owned a small independent candy store, Upper Sweet Side, that was being bought out by Joel's company, a larger candy corporation called CSR. Joel lived with his girlfriend, Tiffany, until he caught her cheating on him with his coworker Trevor. On their way to the same Halloween party, Joel and Molly meet. They initially fight, but end up going on a date, where Joel meets Molly's son from a previous relationship. Joel admits that he is not over his relationship with Tiffany, and Molly leaves angrily. Joel apologizes, and the two begin dating. They break up after a trip to Molly's parents' house, who are revealed to be white supremacists. Joel begins dating Tiffany again, and Molly begins dating her banker, Eggbert. Molly and Eggbert become engaged, and Joel realizes that he is still in love with Molly, and races to the wedding. He arrives to find that she has already left Eggbert at the altar, and goes to the

Brooklyn Promenade The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, is a -long platform and pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278) in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. With views of ...

to find her. They agree to get back together, but Molly's ex-husband Spike, who was just released from jail, confronts Joel. Joel wins the fight, and Spike is taken by the police, only to be shot in the head when he tries to escape. Joel and Molly get married, and Joel opens a coffee shop attached to Upper Sweet Side. In the present, Joel and Molly reveal that they are getting divorced, as their marriage has since fallen apart due to increasing debts. Because of it Molly got addicted to pills and she started sleeping with Frank again. So, Molly and Joel mutually decided they should be friends. After telling their story to Kyle and Karen, Joel and Molly wonder and then agree giving their marriage another shot.

Cast

Paul Rudd Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...

as Joel *

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...

as Molly *

Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the Ma ...

as Tiffany Amber Thigpen *

Christopher Meloni Christopher Peter Meloni (; born April 2, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC legal drama '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' for its first 12 seasons and its spin-off ' ...

as Roland, Joel's boss *

Max Greenfield Max Greenfield (born September 4, 1979) is an American actor. He appeared in recurring roles in ''Veronica Mars'' and ''Ugly Betty''. He co-starred as Schmidt in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'', for which he received nominations at the Primetime Emmy ...

as Jake *

Bill Hader William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series ''Barry'' (2018 ...

as Kyle *

Ellie Kemper Elizabeth Claire Kemper (born May 2, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She has been nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Satellite Awards, and seven Scre ...

as Karen *

Jason Mantzoukas Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...

as Bob, Joel's best friend *

Melanie Lynskey Melanie Jayne Lynskey ( ; born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress widely known for her portrayals of complex women in several independent films and television shows and also known for her command of American dialects. Lynskey is the recipi ...

as Brenda *

Ed Helms Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom ''The Offic ...

as Eggbert Flaps *

Noureen DeWulf Noureen DeWulf (née Ahmed) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles in ''West Bank Story'' (2005), ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' (2009), and ''The Back-up Plan'' (2010). She also starred as Lacey on the sitcom ...

as Melanie *

Michael Ian Black Michael Ian Black (born Michael Ian Schwartz; August 12, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and director. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including ''The State'', ''Viva Variety'', '' Stella'', '' Wet Hot American Summer: Fi ...

as Trevor *

Michaela Watkins Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series '' Casual'' and on the short-lived sitcoms '' The Unicorn'' and ''Trophy Wife'', as well as being a cast memb ...

as Habermeyer *

Randall Park Randall may refer to the following: Places United States *Randall, California, former name of White Hall, California, an unincorporated community * Randall, Indiana, a former town *Randall, Iowa, a city *Randall, Kansas, a city *Randall, Minnesot ...

as Martinson *

Teyonah Parris Teyonah Parris ( ) is an American actress. Her first prominent career role was playing secretary Dawn Chambers in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2012–2015) and starring in the 2014 independent film ''Dear White People''. Since that, Parris st ...

as Wanda * David Wain as Keith Flaps *

Jack McBrayer Jack McBrayer (; born May 27, 1973) is an American actor and comedian, who gained national exposure for his portrayal of characters on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and as Kenneth Parcell in ''30 Rock''. For his role in ''30 Rock'' he was no ...

as Oliver *

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also th ...

as Teddy *

Ken Marino Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...

as Tommy *

Erinn Hayes Erinn Hayes (née Carter; born May 25, 1976) is an American actress and comedian. She is known for her role as Dr. Lola Spratt on the sitcom ''Childrens Hospital'' (2008–2016), which she later reprised in its spin-off series '' Medical Police ...

as Valerie *Zandy Hartig as Katherine *

Zak Orth Zak Orth (born October 15, 1970) is an American actor known for his roles in ''Wet Hot American Summer'', ''The Baxter'', ''Melinda and Melinda'', ''In & Out (film), In and Out'', ''Music and Lyrics'', and ''NYC 22''. He also starred in the NBC te ...

as Waiter with Pole *

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

as Herself * Adam Scott as Sound Engineer *

John Stamos John Phillip Stamos ( ; born August 19, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He first gained recognition for his contract role as Blackie Parrish on the ABC television soap opera ''General Hospital'', for which he was nominated for the Da ...

as Assistant Engineer *Maureen Mueller as Pam *

Michael Murphy Michael, Mick, or Mike Murphy may refer to: Artists and entertainers * Michael Murphy (actor) (born 1938), American actor * Mike Murphy (musician) (1946–2006), American drummer for the Bee Gees and Chicago * Michael Bryan Murphy, lead singer ...

as Roger * Alberto Vazquez as Mexican Waiter *

Lynn Cohen Lynn Harriette Cohen (née Kay; August 10, 1933 – February 14, 2020) was an American actress known for her roles in film, television and theater. She was especially known for her role as Magda in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'', which she ...

as Bubby *

Jeffrey Dean Morgan Jeffrey Dean Morgan (born April 22, 1966) is an American actor of television and film, best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2016–2022), for which he has received critical acclaim. He ...

as Frank *

Michael Shannon Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor, producer, musician, and theater director. He is an off beat actor known for his on-screen versatility, performing in both comedies and dramas. He became known for his frequent ...

as Spike *

Judge Judy Sheindlin Judith Susan Sheindlin (''née'' Blum; born October 21, 1942), known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American court show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, author, women's advancement philanthropist and former prosecutor an ...

as Herself

Production

The film was written by David Wain and

. Rudd and Poehler participated in a table read of the script at the

SF Sketchfest SF Sketchfest, or The San Francisco Comedy Festival, is an American comedy festival founded in 2002 by Bay Area actor-comedians David Owen, Janet Varney and Cole Stratton. It takes place every January and February in a variety of Bay Area venues a ...

in January 2012.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 24, 2014., the film went on to screen at the Sundance London Film Festival on April 26, 2014., and went on to screen at the Chicago Critics Film Festival,

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

, BAMcinema Fest., The film was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on June 27, 2014 in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critics consensus states: "''They Came Together'' is surprisingly messy and perhaps too smart for its own good, but Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd's chemistry is enough to overcome many of the movie's flaws." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it was assigned a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{David Wain 2014 films 2014 romantic comedy films American parody films American romantic comedy films Films directed by David Wain Films set in New York City Lionsgate films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films