THE THREESOME (2025)

Starring Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, Ruby Cruz, Jaboukie Young-White, Josh Segarra, Robert Longstreet, Arden Myrin, Kristin Slaysman, Allan McLeod, Julia Sweeney, Jeremy Turner, Tommy Do, Laura Shatkus, Vivian Norman, Cora Crain, Rivver Manen, Gary Newton, Rose Lane Sanfilippo, Verda Davenport, Megan Mock and Mateo Palmitier.

Screenplay by Ethan Ogilby.

Directed by Chad Hartigan.

Distributed by Vertical. 112 minutes. Rated R.

When a movie has a title like The Threesome, you sort of expect a naughty romp. Yes, that is there to an extent, but The Threesome also has a surprising streak of morality. There are huge repercussions from this drunken fling, which dramatically change the lives of all three participants in the spontaneous act.

However, just like the act that lends this film its name; it’s not just a fun time, it comes with some unexpected complications.

It changes everything from a sexy and breezy romantic comedy to something a bit deeper – and I’m sad to say a bit less enjoyable. Still, there is a good amount of comic vibe and some surprisingly deep relationship drama in the film, and it is mostly a good time.

However, The Threesome also is dragged into some unforeseen areas and ends up being much different than the characters – and the audience – were expecting.

You may have noticed that I have been sort of skirting past explaining what exactly the change in direction is. And I plead guilty; I’ve been debating whether that information would be considered a spoiler. But I suppose, since the big plot twist is pretty comprehensively outed in the movie’s trailer – and since it happens less than a third of the way through the film – it is safe to let the cat out of the bag.

But first, a bit of background. To paraphrase the immortal words of the old song, “And you may say to yourself, ‘Well, how did we get here?’”

Connor (Jonah Hauer-King) is a nice guy, but a bit of a loser. He has a massive crush on Olivia (Zoey Deutch), a server who works at a bar with Connor’s best friend. Although Connor and Olivia sort of hooked up once, she’s obviously not nearly as interested in him as he is in her.

One night at the bar, Connor is feeling sorry for himself as he watches Olivia with her current boyfriend. Connor’s buddy suggests that he hit on Jenny (Ruby Cruz), a woman who is sitting alone at a table who has apparently been stood up. (Fun trivia fact: Cruz is the daughter of 1970s child star Brandon Cruz, who played the little boy title character in the popular Bill Bixby sitcom The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.)

The plan works a lot better than Connor would ever imagine. Jenny is into him. Also, Olivia, who has had a fight with her boyfriend who turns out to have been married, finds herself surprisingly jealous when she sees Connor with Jenny. She heads over to their table to talk with them, they all get massively drunk and a few hours later all three end up in bed together.

It turns out that the one night of passion led to both of the women getting pregnant. As one of the women points out, he must have some super sperm.

Therefore, Connor must be a responsible baby daddy to both women, getting to know them better and trying to balance them both without hurting either woman and dealing with the complications of childbirth classes, families and . And he must decide what he wants to do, although it seems pretty obvious from the very beginning which woman he wants to end up with.

To be honest, both of the female characters are much more interesting than the guy that is suddenly in the middle of their lives. (In fact, his gay best friend played by Jaboukie Young-White is also a more intriguing character, as is his mother, played by former SNL cast member Julia Sweeney.) Not that Hauer-King doesn’t do a decent job, it’s just his character is a lot blander than the people surrounding him. He seems to be playing straight man in his own life.

And to be honest even further, for me at least the film became significantly less interesting when all the pregnancy, childbirth and parenting subplots started to hijack the romantic storyline. I’ll acknowledge that this may be just a personal preference – some people might be fascinated by these turns – but all of this stuff had a been-there/done-that feel to me, although granted, multiplied by two.

Still, for the most part The Threesome is a pretty good film, a messy love story for these messy times and often cuttingly funny.

Just on a side note, during the closing credits, The Threesome shows a bunch of on-set cast bloopers, which was a routine that was huge with bad comedies in the 1980s and 1990s, but thankfully the practice seemed to have pretty much faded away years ago. Here’s hoping that The Threesome does not reignite that particular unmissed Hollywood tradition.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 5, 2025.