It’s interesting to reflect on Chicago-based romantic comedies in my life time. I cannot even come up with a handful and I don’t necessarily thing they’re all that great. Sure, one specifically, could be crowned somewhat of a standby and potentially used as the measuring stick, but I’d probably be ridiculed for making the proclamation.
Let’s bracket this thing right now. Drinking Buddies (2013), this movie, is the most current one. It’s probably the most indie and I found it highly enjoyable. The oldest one I recall watching was About Last Night (1986), which I also found highly enjoyable. In between you have Return to Me (2000) and The Breakup (2006), which were bad to okay, depending on your mood.
While both About Last Night and Drinking Buddies both revolve around drinking and dating, they treat the subjects very differently, especially the drinking parts. In the former you have people consuming unnamed beers at Rush Street bars, and in the latter you have people consuming famously named craft beers almost as a marketing tool. Many of the famous breweries get named, Revolution Brewing, Half Acre, Three Floyds, and I think it was filmed at Half Acre’s site. I’m a fan of all of them so I thought it was cool.
I liked this movie for more than just the beer angle. It did a good job of exploring the question of “can men keep a female friend in the face of great sexual tension while dating another female?” It’s a meme that’s been explored before, but not with craft brews and Chicago as a backdrop. It has a somewhat fresh take on the subject and a solid ending.