My main conclusion in my review of the campaign for Blue Jay was that it was worth watching if, for no other reason, the performances from Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson. That was spot-on.

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Duplass stars as Jim, a middle-aged guy who in the wake of his mother’s death is working on cleaning up and renovating the house he grew up in. One day he runs into Amanda (Paulson), who’s in town to be with her sister, who’s about to give birth. The two were high school sweethearts until something – an event that’s not revealed or even touched on until the very end – tore them apart. She’s now married while he’s not but the two wind up spending the rest of the day and night together, reliving old memories and reviving the chemistry that made them such a natural pair back in the day. As I said, it’s only at the very end that the tragedy that lead to the couple’s romantic demise is brought to the forefront and addressed, with each one needing to deal with it in their own way and in some respects for the first time.

The marketing sold the movie as a showcase for the two leads, telling the audience that the main value proposition was 90-odd minutes of the two walking and talking and reconnecting after a period of estrangement. And that’s exactly what was delivered, so well done by whomever cut the trailer. Is it a romantic movie? Yes, of a sort. Mostly it’s a cautionary tale about the downside of holding emotions and thoughts to yourself for 20 years. It wasn’t a huge campaign so there isn’t a lot to compare the finished product against, but if you’d like to make your own judgement on the marketing’s accuracy you can – and should – watch the movie on Netflix now.