A truly energetic Midnighter, Together (2025) is a gross look at codependency. A debut film for writer-director Michael Shanks, Dave Franco and Alison Brie are producers as well as the couple at the center of this weird and grotesque look at what happens when you simply can’t leave the person you love, even if they’re horrible for you.

Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie) are two thirty-somethings taking the plunge into the next step in their near-decade-long relationship. Only they’re both uncomfortable in their own ways, forcing the next step into a decaying relationship in the eyes of their friends. Millie is a teacher and is offered a good job in a rural area. She’s successful. Tim, on the other hand? Well, he’s a 35-year-old musician who has been living his dream with her support.

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When they move to the countryside (coupled with the fact that Tim hesitates when confirming their commitment to each other, their relationship is at the absolute limit. Millie is starting to think that Tim brings nothing to the table, and Tim thinks that Millie is trapping him away from his “career.” Then the two go on a hike, and one supernatural encounter begins an extreme transformation that is twisting their love, their lives, and, well, their bodies.

Together tips off what’s going to happen from a mile away. But the less-than-subtle foreshadowing always works at the moment and, if anything, builds up a sense of anticipation. The movie brings excitement and comedy to every situation, propelled by Brie and Franco’s ability to throw everything at their roles. Brie’s comedic talent has always been known, and here? It shines.

Their bodies become nightmares that are romanticized for the moment, even in the grossness of the results. That is due in large part to the excellent practical and computer-generated effects. The movie takes big swings to make an over-the-top metaphor for two people consuming each other in a relationship. Sure, the couple is troubled, but as their dynamic partners fuel their problems, it also begins to give them the answer to solving their problems. But it all just keeps getting worse and worse.

This movie does not knock everything out of the park. Too many trauma-based threads layer in more complexities to the horror story, which don’t always blend seamlessly. Together also relies on too many cheap jump scares when its real seat-squirming power comes in the third act, which makes all the jump scares fall to the wayside and leaves you questioning why they were there in the first place.

Together is a grossly fun time that embraces the grotesque. All sold by Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s chemistry and wit, you can’t help but understand their codependency and decisions entirely. They love each other, they’re bad for each other, and honestly, they’re both a little unlikable. Still, that’s what makes this movie work so well, even when it’s in its slower moments in the first act.

There really is no bad guy in Together (2025), just bad circumstances in their relationship.

Shanks’ choice to give Millie and Tim more unlikable qualities the longer the movie goes on is what sells Together and keeps the audience invested in them both. At the start, Tim seems like the bad guy. The 35-year-old emotionally stunted man who has lost all interest in intimacy with his “partner” (because “girlfriend,” of course, feels too juvenile). He doesn’t bring in a substantial amount of money; essentially, all he brings to the table are his demos.

But as Together continues, Tim becomes the likable one. Hell, you start to feel bad for him. He’s working through trauma, and while he may not bring any money to the relationship, he cooks, takes care of the house, and is still invested, no matter how much Millie’s best friend says otherwise. He is trying. Tim just needs understanding.

On the other side, Millie is bringing in money. She wants to wear matching clothes, and she tries to let Tim take intimacy at his pace—even if she complains about the sexless months to her best friend. But she is also dismissive of Tim’s trauma, and more importantly, she wields it as a verbal knife when they argue.

To filmmaker Michael Shanks, that’s just love. While splitting up is the core of almost every conversation that Millie and Tim have throughout Together, it’s why they don’t split that matters. Sure, the supernatural force in their bodies makes them crave to become one, but their conscious choice to peel back the larger curtain on each other shows how they complement one another. Even when they don’t, their love for each other means more to them than either of them individually.

Loud and ugly, as much as it’s funny and romantic, the double down on weird body horror and running physical gags captures the right mix of wanting to look away and locking in. Together is disgustingly funny, genuinely ugly, and just a good time at the movies.

Together (2025) premiered as a part of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. 

Together

• 8/10 Rating - 8/10

8/10

TL;DR

Together is disgustingly funny, genuinely ugly, and just a good time at the movies.

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