The Sun Never Sets

Since the mainstream releases were a bust this weekend I decided on an indie double feature at the Broadway last night.  I started with The Sun Never Sets mostly because I loved the beautiful Alaskan scenery featured in the trailer but I ended up enjoying it.  Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is a thirty-something woman who is in a long-term relationship with Jack (Jake Johnson), an older man with two children from a previous marriage.  He is very set in his ways and does not share her passion for the great outdoors but, more importantly, he has no desire to get married again or have more children.  She has adapted to fit into his life because she loves him but, when her best friend Lindsay (Debby Ryan) announces that she is pregnant, Jack worries that she might regret her decision not to have children in the future.  He suggests that they take a break for six months so she can explore her options and decide if she really wants to be with him on his terms.  She objects but he finally coerces convinces her and she goes on several amusing blind dates.  While on one of these dates, she runs into Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), an ex-boyfriend who has recently returned to Anchorage, and she resumes a relationship with him.  This makes Jack extremely jealous and he suddenly wants her back on any terms but now she is unsure.  Jack then begins dating Sara (Karley Sciortino), a woman his age with whom he is very compatible.  Chuck begins exhibiting the behavior that made Wendy break up with him in the first place and, when she learns about Sara, she is jealous and wants Jack back.  Confusion (and many screaming matches) ensues.  What I especially liked is that the characters are complicated, flawed, and messy because I think they really reflect the uncertainty that many young adults feel when their lives don't look like everyone else's (I definitely went through this when I was in my early thirties).  I found it very interesting that the free-spirited and immature Chuck is obviously meant to be the villain but Jack, who is more settled and responsible, is also problematic because he is so controlling and manipulative (one scene, in particular, in which he is trying to get her to come home with him is extremely disturbing in my opinion).  This is why I loved the final resolution because it is so empowering. Fanning gives an incredibly nuanced performance, one of her very best, because Wendy is often frustrating but you still like her enough to root for her to succeed.  I wanted to see more of the Alaskan wilderness and the bickering between the characters does go on a bit longer than it needs to but I liked this and recommend it to fans of romantic dramas.