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“Men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.”
With that line Nora Ephron, in When Harry Met Sally, launched an entire subgenre of the romantic comedy, one that was based on the idea of a man and woman trying to deny an attraction and “just be friends.” That’s given us plenty of cinematic fodder in the subsequent 26 years (yikes), but all of them follow a pretty predictable path: Attraction, suppression, realization, consummation. It’s a formula, but it’s one that’s worked both on the big and small screens over and over again, so why mess with it?
That seems to be the logic behind Sleeping With Other People, the new movie starring Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis. The two play a pair who lost their virginity to each other in college and who happen upon each other after, of all things, a sex addicts support group meeting. Realizing they’re probably better off not mindlessly hooking up with each other the two become platonic friends and begin hanging out and becoming good friends. But of course complications set in, as they often do.
The Posters
The movie’s one poster hits the basic beats it needs to in order to sell the movie to the target audience. Sudeikis and Brie are front and center, each looking slightly confused and annoyed, like they’re in the last place they want to be. While the two actors get top billing the poster makes it clear – by putting their names right below the title – that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the powers behind Anchorman and so many other movies, are prominently involved, in this case as producers. Finally toward the bottom the pitch is made that this is “a romantic comedy with commitment issues,” spelling out for the audience the gist of the movie’s plot, though that seems to downplay the source of the actual humor in the movie.
While it does the three or four things it needs to do well, the poster epitomizes the kind of lazy graphic design that has taken over one-sheet design in the last decade. This is just a still from the movie – you can see the scene it’s taken from in the first trailer below – with a title treatment slapped at the top.
The Trailers
That problem is nowhere to be seen in the trailer, not surprising since, of course, this is where the movie can actually shine through footage.
The first trailer was a green-band version that set up the basic outline of the movie pretty well and showed essentially what the character’s journeys would be. We meet Jake and Laney as they are dealing with the results of their addictions and issues. Jake is being berated – and then shoved into a cab – by a woman who he’s cheated on. Laney is admitting to her boyfriend that she cheated on him. They then run in to each other outside the sex addiction group and agree to become friends, spending more and more time together, a situation that prompts reactions of either admiration or disbelief from their various friends.
The second trailer was a red-band version, so labeled because it contains more explicit references to the sex that makes up much of the film’s plot. Also because it actually contains the name of the drug the two main characters take before they head to a child’s birthday party.
As is usually the case with these things, the red-band version works a bit better than the all-ages one. It has more character, it breathes a bit differently. It just feels a bit more organic and natural. This is a common occurrence with red-band trailers for R-rated comedies in particular. After all, if you can’t show off what it is that makes the movie what it is then you’re inherently misleading the audience.
Online
The movie’s official website appears to be built on Tumblr, the better, it’s assumed to reach those youngs that will make the movie a hit. So you can follow the blog to get updates on your Dashboard or you can navigate the Photos, GIFs and Videos tags. The Videos section contains both trailers (the green-band version also pops up as soon as the site loads) as well as a video of Brie going up against Will Arnett on an episode of “Lip Sync Battle,” which seems to be there just…because? I don’t think that was recent, so they just kind of found a cool video that they they thought would resonate with the kids and included it on the site. Not necessarily a bad thing, just sort of random. Finally, there’s a Synopsis.
The Facebook page is filled with the same kind of stuff that’s also been posted to Tumblr. There are also links to some of the press stories but for the most part it’s the same photos, motion graphics and so on we’ve already seen.
There was no stand-alone Twitter profile for the movie so it’s sharing space (thankfully) with other new releases on the @IFCFilms profile. When it comes to this movie in particular it’s the same stuff from Tumblr and Facebook all over again. Same thing on the @IFCFilms Instagram.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
There’s been plenty of advertising done for the movie, both online and on TV. The TV spots were essentially edited-down versions of the green-band trailer. And online ads used some of the same images we saw on the Tumblr site and elsewhere on social media.
Nothing in the way of cross-promotions has crossed my radar. This isn’t exactly the kind of movie that generates a lot of interest along those lines.
Media and Publicity
Two big pieces in the Publicity category: One was a feature on Sudeikis in the New York Times (8/26/15) that painted the actor as one who was a little bit dangerous but who wanted to transition from being the goofy best friend in movie after movie to a more substantive leading man, something this movie is designed to help. It also touches on how the part in the movie was apparently written just for him after he met writer/director Leslye Headland a few years ago. Of course his SNL history is touched on as well.
The other is actually a feature on Headland herself in Paste (8/23/15) that went into what she wanted to accomplish with the movie, how she approached both the subject of sex on-screen and creating the sex scenes themselves and more. This was certainly the more enlightening of the two major stories, largely because Headland is only a second-time director and this is perhaps her first time really in the spotlight.
Overall
The strongest components of the campaign are the trailers without a doubt. They best show off what the movie is and what it’s about. The poster is nothing special and the site, while certainly leaning in to its target demographic, is filled with the kind of images marketers think are funny but which are of questionable value to the audience itself.
But those trailers are really strong, showing off not only the tone and feel of the movie but the chemistry between Sudeikis and Brie, which appears to be considerable. Based on those alone I think this does a good job of appealing to an audience that is looking for an R-rated romantic comedy – something that’s showing signs of falling out of favor – with something more substantive to offer than just gags.
