Together Together, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, centers on Anna (Patti Harrison), a 26-year old loner who becomes the gestational surrogate for Matt (Ed Helms), a single app designer in his mid-40s who wants to start a family. But whereas Tina Fey and Amy Poehler mined a similar setup for broad laughs in Baby Mama, writer/director Nikole Beckwith's comedy/drama is more interested in exploring the intricacies of its central relationship and the very nature of attachment.
There are times when Together Together goes for the easy joke, such as in the scene where Matt tells his mother (Nora Dunn) and father (WandaVision's Fred Melamed) he's "pregnant" to wildly disparate reactions, or whenever Anna's queer, tattooed, detached co-worker Jules (Los Espookys co-creator and star Julio Torres) is onscreen. Yet, as frequently as the film acknowledges the awkwardness inherent to Anna and Matt's situation, most of its humor and heart comes from its subtler and more introspective moments.
Helms, who does his best work playing earnest characters, is well cast as Matt, a middle-aged programmer who's truly invested in being a good parent. His kindness and sensitivity are what endear him to Anna, even when they seem to disagree on everything from what she should be eating to Matt's continued love for Woody Allen films. Harrison, herself a talented comic and the rare trans woman to play an explicitly cisgender role in a wide release, is an equally perfect match for Anna, whose closed-off nature is completely understandable given how a pregnancy in her teen years altered the course of her life. For her, surrogacy offers a means for paying for college and a more fulfilling career.
Despite their differences, it makes sense Anna and Matt would connect: they each need someone they can trust and who will support them in achieving their goals. At the same time, it's obvious there's not really a place in their respective lives for the other, once the baby -- which they call "Lamp" in order to stay as gender-neutral as possible -- is born. And while this does lead to the requisite "Big Crisis" near the end of the second act, Together Together is content to let this conflict resolve itself naturally, rather than presenting a contrived solution to their dilemma.
As a director, Beckwith has a keen eye for capturing the nuances of her cast's performances, particularly in the scenes when Matt and Anna are responding to something the other either did or didn't say. There's a similar intimacy to the film's gentle, pleasantly-lit cinematography, yet it never feels obtrusive and gives the actors the room they need to breathe onscreen. In that sense, Together Together knows how to respect its characters' boundaries, even as Anna and Matt question whether they've grown too close over what may be the only nine months they ever spend in one another's company.
Although it's relatively lighter for a Sundance selection, Together Together is quietly radical in the way it portrays its central couple's relationship as affectionate and vulnerable without necessarily being romantic. By refusing to be boxed in or adhere to conventions, it makes for a funny, considerate and genuinely touching look at what surrogacy really entails for those involved.
Written and directed by Nikole Beckwith, Together, Together stars Patti Harrison, Ed Helms, Julio Torres, Tig Notaro, Rosalind Chao, Nora Dunn, Fred Melamed and Sufe Bradshaw. It will release in select theaters April 23 and VOD May 11.