Happy 10th birthday Sleeping With Other People, an excellent little New York rom-com
An understated, modest movie that feels familiar as a city movie because its characters just live here, like you do.
What is the perfect New York City rom-com? I am not here to answer that question actually, because despite an interest in the genre that has surprised many of my friends, I can’t claim to be the kind of scholar of the films who could talk at length about which one is best. But I know enough to know what’s an excellent little New York City story about hanging out and falling in love, which we got 10 years ago today when Sleeping With Other People was released.
Don’t know it? That would make sense. Despite starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie, and carrying a supporting cast featuring the likes of Adam Scott, Jason Mantzoukas, Amanda Peet and a pre-Russian Doll Natasha Lyonne, Sleeping With Other People had an extremely modest time at the box office after it debuted on September 11, 2015, pulling in just $3.2 million. I didn’t see it back then either, though I had a good excuse (I spent most of my free time around then watching the Mets’ extremely unlikely World Series run). But the movie is worth going back to, both for its charming love story and for the images of what feels like a much different city despite being filmed (here in New York, instead of on soundstages or a Canadian city masquerading as New York) just a decade ago.
