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John Prine once spun out a poignant commentary on the messiness of relationships in one of his best tunes, “In Spite of Ourselves,” sung in alternating verses with Iris DeMen. Prine’s alter ego tolerates his love’s cursing when she shaves her legs and her preference for undercooked eggs. She overlooks his consumption of beer “like it’s oxygen” and the time she caught him sniffing her underwear, among his many other foibles. In the refrain, they maintain that, “in spite of ourselves, we’ll end up sitting on a rainbow” with “nothing but big old hearts dancing in our eyes.”
If a serpentine love story is not enough to snare viewers, Portlanders will have special reason to see screenwriter and director Josh Loeb’s debut film, which borrows Prine’s title and theme. It is set primarily in Portland, under autumn skies and colorful leaves, with plenty of familiar sites. The Portland restaurant world, in particular, plays a prominent part. Loeb has a long history in restaurants, his first career, and it shows in the film’s many faithful details. Oregonian food writer Michael Russell even makes a cameo playing himself (well, a slightly dressed up version of himself).
We meet Hannah (Conor Leslie) and Archie (Bret Dier) in alternating soliloquies that open the film. She is a pastry baker—at Tabor Bread—who has learned the importance of precision and timing. Archie, from Los Angeles, is a rising star comedian. He too understands the importance of timing in his craft. “You miss it by a second and the whole thing falls flat.”
After the soliloquies comes a meet-cute at the bakery. In town for a stand-up gig, Archie wanders in to score a cinnamon roll, but of course the child in front of him gets the last one. Hannah looks on bemused as Archie tries to buy it off the kid. And when a new batch of cinnamon rolls comes out of the oven, Hannah brings him one.
The next 15 minutes are a warm and fuzzy fantasy. Everything is right with the world. On their first date, they walk along Southeast Clinton Street sharing details of their upbringing and lives, then plop down in Laurelhurst park side by side to stare at the stars.
We learn about Hannah’s worsening hearing disorder, and about her egomaniacal boss, “Chef Jake,” a familiar type.
It is practically a given that comedians have miserable personal lives, and Archie’s is every bit of that. His dad is in a memory care facility and his closest friends, also comedians, declare that “Archie doesn’t like people.”
But the rom-com illusion is soon shattered by an embarrassing moment in Archie’s hotel room. In a way, you might say their relationship failed to launch.
Despite dark moments and ambiguities, romantics can take heart. Mistimed phone calls, stupidly edited text messages and a panoply of other messes haunt Hannah and Archie’s relationship. But it’s not too much of a stretch to say that their first cinnamon roll is probably not their last.
SEE IT: In Spite of Ourselves at Livingroom Theaters Portland, 341 SW 10th Ave., 971-222-2010, pdx.livingroomtheaters.com. Times vary, through Oct. 15. $6–$11.
