I chose not to see Before We Go last September in Toronto, but I’ve no bone to pick with congenial romantic two-handers as a rule. Especially with Chris Evans (who also directed) and Alice Eve as the leads. I might even fork over the $22.99 it’ll cost to see as high-def version on Vudu starting tomorrow. But my first thought as I watched the trailer was “what if the jowly guy sitting behind Amy Schumer in that Trainwreck bar was the guy with the guitar offering to help Eve find a place to crash?” Because that would be a tad more realistic. I just don’t believe that husky beardos who look like Evans would be playing trumpet for spare change in Grand Central Station.

From David Rooney‘s Hollywood Reporter review, posted from Toronto on 9.12.14: “If you’re going to make an ultra-naturalistic, two-character, walking-and-talking romance that tips its hat to Before Sunrise, then it’s best to avoid a script loaded with contrived situations and overwritten dialogue. That’s the obstacle that hobbles Before We Go, Chris Evans’ wispy directing debut, almost from the start. Bland characters don’t help much either.

“Working from a screenplay co-written by Ron Bass (Rain Man), Evans has surrounded himself with an accomplished craft team. That includes cinematographer John Guleserian, whose limber camera conducts a love affair with the nighttime locations, and editor John Axelrad, who brings gentle, fluttering rhythms to the action that further the script’s real-time illusion. But a nice-looking package will only get you so far, and the insubstantiality of this actor-driven exercise makes it seem simultaneously modest and a vanity project.”

After playing on VOD through July and August, Before We Go will have a limited theatrical release on 9.4.15 through Radius.