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Nate (Grant Wright Gunderson) gets a nice promotion and a new
assignment that excites him very much, so things couldn't be better -
well, if it wasn't that his assignment would force him to move to New York
for half a year, now that he has just persuaded his girlfriend Jessica
(Kendall Chappell) to move in with him. To his surprise, Jessica takes the
news better than expected - which makes Nate suspicious that she might
have (or plan to have) an affair, maybe with the colleague of hers she's
constantly talking about. So to test her loyalty, he asks his best friend
John (Austin Lauer), who's also good friends with Jessica, to try to
seduce her. At first, John thinks it's a stupid idea, but it's really
anything for a friend, so the two go to a bar, get pretty drunk, John
offers Jessica to crash at his because she's too drunk to drive, they have
a nightcap, talk ... and eventually kiss and have sex. When John tells
Nate, that leaves him heartbroken at first - but soon he comes up with a
scheme to make her pay that involves going on as if nothing has happened
until she breaks and confesses, and then break up with her. There's one
thing though, when only seducing her as a favour to his friend, John has
fallen in love with Jessica for real, and she cares about him more and
more as well ...
In its very own way, The Departure is a very mean love
story, and one with no real winners - which is one reason why this film
rings rather true. The other is that despite the rather far-fetched
concept, the story is made palpable by characters that are relatable
because of their flaws, and who mess up in ways that we actually might as
well - after all, who hasn't felt unreasonable jealousy or made stupid
mistakes when drunk at least once in life? But the film really comes
together thanks to down-to-earth performances and a directorial effort
that keeps things low-key and intimate, all resulting in a pretty fine, if
mean, romance.
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