It turns out that not every bachelor party in cinema has to display traits of toxic masculinity, a lost groom, or a mysterious mattress thrown over the roof of a Las Vegas hotel. (No disrespect to the genuinely very funny but cliché-ridden “The Hangover.”) Some, like the one featured in writer-director Noah Pritzker’s charming little dramedy “Ex-Husbands,” offer its participants opportunities for thoughtful growth and heaps of reflection.
And in all honesty, the group of men in “Ex-Husbands” can use some of that, too. Take the groom-to-be Nick Pearce (James Norton of “Little Women,” with his soulfully low-key charm), for instance. Once, he was deemed a genius. Now, well into his thirties when he should have had his life figured out, he’s still unable to take meaningful steps towards the kind of existence he wants, stuck at waiting tables at a New York restaurant. But isn’t he getting married? Isn’t that a big step forward? You might rightfully ask. Well, something smells fishy as soon as we lay eyes on Nick and his fiancé, Thea (Rachel Zeiger-Haag), an art curator with her priorities straight. The duo seems to occupy the same space, but there is nothing lovey-dovey about their interactions. Pritzker doesn’t spell it out exactly for a while, but he makes it evident that there is trouble in those waters.
Regardless, Nick sticks with the bachelor trip to Tulum as planned by his younger brother Mickey (Mikes Heizer), a considerate and supportive sibling in his twenties, who’s recently come out as a gay man. Meanwhile, their father, Peter Pearce (a terrific Griffin Dunne), is dealing with his own share of relationship troubles with his wife, Maria (Rosanna Arquette), who’s leaving him. We learn that divorce has been running in the family—just six short years ago, Peter’s father, Simon (Richard Benjamin), had decided to leave his own wife despite his disapproving kids. The misguided man seemed to have thought he still had a good couple of decades of life left in him. (Does he think he’s guaranteed a healthy life past 100?) But he is now in a nursing home after a stroke, evidently steering the final chapter of his life.
It is with this backstory that Nick, Mickey, and their crowded troupe of men head to Tulum for a refined boys trip, with Peter independently following them to spend time alone at his own hotel. But the father soon gets included in the bachelor party plans, and the truth about Nick slowly comes out.
Pritzker navigates his compassionate tale empathetically, portraying a refreshingly kind, gentle, and soft side of masculinity through a group of characters all stuck inside a crossroads life has thrown at them. For Nick, the problem is his inability to take action—he’s so stuck and immobile that he hasn’t even managed to send a letter to the wedding invitees as promised to Thea, informing them about the cancelled plans. For Peter, a NYC dentist in his 60s, the concern is whether he could find romantic fulfillment again. Briefly, an opportunity presents itself with Eileen (Eisa Davis), staying at Peter’s hotel to officiate a casual wedding. But priorities and realities tend to be different for people above a certain age like he is, Peter soon finds out. And for Mickey, the question is how to navigate his feelings toward Nick’s friend Arroyo (Pedro Fontaine)—the duo hooks up, but Arroyo happens to be married to a woman.
There aren’t big revelations at the end of “Ex-Husbands,” just the suggestion that growth and change are constants in life—there will be truths we’ll have to face over and over, at any age. But that suggestion is a sneakily rich one too, competently braided with the tale of a family leaning on one another when the going gets tough. With a tender spirit, gorgeous Tulum locations, and a poetic, dialogue-driven calmness, Pritzker’s “Ex-Husbands” is a surprising delight, astute and humorous about humans that both lived a long life and are just starting out their adventure. It’s a movie that looks back and moves forward, with grace and wisdom.
