It’s All Surface Level: ‘On the Rocks’ Film Review

The latest comedy/drama from director Sofia Coppola promises more than it delivers, and not even Bill Murray can revive the mundane, bourgeois, and oblivious On the Rocks. While the film touches on the dynamics of the father-daughter relationship and how this impacts expectations of partnerships, any depth or reflection on this is ultimately left on the surface.

Courtesy of Boca Raton Magazine

According to the official synopsis as provided by A24: “A young New York mother faced with sudden doubts about her marriage teams up with her larger-than-life playboy father to tail her husband. Laura (Rashida Jones) thinks she’s happily hitched, but when her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) starts logging late hours at the office with a new co-worker, Laura begins to fear the worst.  She turns to the one man she suspects may have insight: her charming, impulsive father Felix (Bill Murray), who insists they investigate the situation. As the two begin prowling New York at night, careening from uptown parties to downtown hotspots, they discover at the heart of their journey lies their own relationship.” Sophia Coppola films tend to exist in the same universe as Wes Anderson’s work – they are very white, very upper class, feature Bill Murray, and have a tendency to use subtle ethno-fetishism as a merit badge. Coppola’s own Lost in Translation is the prime example of this. Most interestingly, On the Rocks, seems to make a very intentional grasp at presenting modern multiracial famili…