On The Rocks Analysis

On The Rocks (2020)

Written and Directed by: Sofia Coppola

Starring: Bill Murray, Rashida Jones

It's a buddy comedy centered around a father and daughter who tail on her suspicious husband. Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation and this film - both of them have a laidback pacing and storytelling. The characters take time to breath and speak. They feel that they deserve our time. There's no sense of rush. The tone of her films is derived from the affluent worldview of her characters - which people complain to be oblivious to their privilege - but that's how people are, and that's what makes her films seem honest and unique.

Bill Murray plays a man who tries to woo every woman he meets, and he justifies that to his daughter with evolutionary psychology - which makes the character more realistic. They explore their interpersonal relationship with the backstory - about how he cheated on her mother. The deadpan humor of Bill Murray wasn't at its best in this film, and this film felt a lot more simple - than her earlier films which had more layers and nuance to the storytelling.

The film probably talks about acceptance of different worldviews, the way she knows how her dad is, the way she's slightly annoyed at him all the time - but she doesn't reject him out of his life. They get together at the end too. This film taught me that we can express our differences, but sometimes we can embrace them too.