Where to watch: Streaming on Apple TV+
Rating: 3/5
Time: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Cast: Rashida Jones, Bill Murray, Marlon Wayans, Jessica Henwick, Jenny Slate
On the Rocks is the story of Laura (played by Rashida Jones) and her father, Felix (played by Bill Murray). Laura feels her marriage is on the rocks. She is barely able to hold her life together. She has to manage two kids, while trying to write a book with no help from her husband Dean (played by Marlon Wayans). Dean is super busy with a business he has just started. On top of everything, she suspects Dean is having an affair. She tries to rationalise the situation – “What if Dean’s just busy and I’m stuck in a rut? That’s it?”
Laura is clearly stuck in a rut. While sitting down to work on her book, we see her rearranging her desk for the nth time and then staring out of the window because of writers block. In desperation, she turns to her father for help. In part because Felix, a man about town, may know a thing or two about other men about town. Felix’s solution is to spy on Dean and so, father and daughter follow Dean all over Manhattan and a Mexican resort.
Rashida Jones plays the part of the overworked mother and suspicious wife very well. Bill Murray is classic Bill Murray, delivering comedic dialogues with a deadpan face. Directed by Sofia Coppola, On the Rocks is a lightweight movie for someone like her with established filmmaking capabilities (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette) and family pedigree. One would have expected something better from Coppola. Nevertheless, On the Rocks is a light-hearted watch.