6.9

Alison Brie and Dave Franco Are Stuck Together

By Jesse Hassenger  |  July 29, 2025 | 9:38am
Movies Reviews Alison Brie
Alison Brie and Dave Franco Are Stuck Together
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Alison Brie and Dave Franco look tired. That might sound rude, but it’s an aspect of their new characters that they – two very attractive people, to be clear, both younger-looking than their years – seem determined to highlight through their performances in Together. They’re collaborating on the type of relationship-based horror movie that a real-life couple should probably only attempt if they feel exceedingly comfortable with one another. Brie and Franco must have attained that level of comfort, or else are willing to walk on a tightrope for their art.

The two are married in real life, and have appeared together in several films, often directed by Franco, though this one is written and directed by Michael Shanks. He has them playing a couple, though not quite married. Millie (Brie) and Tim (Franco) have been dating and cohabitating for a long time, such that when Millie wants to take a teaching job in a small, woodsy town two hours outside of their city, Tim agrees to go with her. (We don’t even see a scene where she convinces him; it’s already a done deal as the movie opens.) After all, Tim doesn’t exactly have a career that will be disrupted by the move. He’s a semi-professional musician who seems to have tasted some manner of mild success and now bristles at the opportunities he may miss by moving further from the action. Then again, if a 35-year-old guitarist needs to be that close to the action, is he likely on the brink of a breakthrough? (Franco makes some contributions here by appearing absolutely ill at ease with his guitar.)

Children are not discussed. Marriage is proposed, after a fashion, in a scene that some audience members may count as body horror, depending on how visceral their cringes are. Chores are not quite balanced; Millie provides an income, while Tim cooks but lacks a driver’s license. Perhaps the best decision Brie and Franco make as performers is to not overplay the discord between Millie and Tim. Possibly sensing that a lopsided relationship with Tim needs some buy-in, they (and presumably the screenplay from Shanks) make it easy to see why the two characters remain together, even if they’re quietly harboring resentments. They know how to laugh with each other, and at themselves. They love each other. But they are also stuck together. Figuratively, then literally.

After a rainstorm washes out an intended hike and the couple takes shelter in a spooky cave, they wake up with their legs firmly affixed. They peel them apart, with some discomfort, and brush it off as a some naturally occurring weirdness. But as days go by, Tim and Millie find themselves increasingly and physically drawn together, even as they fight and pull apart. It’s codependency as it might be experienced via an Evil Dead movie.

Together is not quite as hardcore as that description implies, and the discerning horror fan may sometimes wish for something a little gnarlier, a little less willing to cut away from the stickiest, nastiest effects of this horrifying condition. Shanks is slightly too tasteful in that regard, and in some of Tim and Millie’s later conversations, the movie threatens to verbalize too much of the tension that, earlier on, goes unsaid yet perfectly understood.

But Together doesn’t succumb to the dreaded “metaphorror” effect, where every plot point and character serves a clearly coded metaphorical purpose. It’s often grimly funny, with the actors (and their talented physical doubles) throwing themselves into their roles. Shanks also mixes the early relationship material with visceral flashes of less supernaturally inspired horrors – is that a rat king?! – to unburden the actors of having to play oppressively doomy notes for the entire running time. Brie and Franco are not technically the only people in the picture – Damon Herriman is on hand as one of Millie’s new colleagues – but they shoulder long stretches of it as an uncomfortable double act, and a study in contrasting forms of denial and acceptance.

Franco, usually more of a swing comic player, may be giving his best performance here, or at least a more shaded one than his grotesque villain in Love Lies Bleeding. It’s Brie who has more of a chance to deepen and refine her on-screen project. In recent years, she has often specialized in playing women who seem like they should be leads in romantic comedies, only to have life disappoint her or spiral out of control in some unexpected and not especially romantic way. Together takes this to a satisfyingly nightmarish, sometimes surprisingly tender extreme.

Director: Michael Shanks
Writer: Michael Shanks
Starring: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Damon Herriman
Release Date: July 30, 2025

Jesse Hassenger is associate movies editor at Paste. He also writes about movies and other pop-culture stuff for a bunch of outlets including A.V. Club, GQ, Decider, the Daily Beast, and SportsAlcohol.com, where offerings include an informal podcast. He also co-hosts the New Flesh, a podcast about horror movies, and wastes time on social media under the handle @rockmarooned.

 
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