November 19, 2024 – I was looking forward to seeing this film, billed a “romantic comedy,” but unfortunately, it turned into a real downer. It is not a bad movie, but, especially this year, I was looking for something more uplifting, like last year's “Rye Lane.”

It has, after all, the trappings of a romantic comedy: a wild young wealthy Russian, Ivan (played by Mark Eydelshteyn of “Guest from the Future”) meets a young stripper/sex worker, Ani (Mikey Madison of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) for hire at nightclub, and impulsively marries her in Las Vegas after a wild fling. Ivan's oligarch family objects to the wedding, and all hell breaks loose.

Ivan and Ani (her real name is Anora) meet at a nightclub, where she makes money by giving lap dances to male guests. Ivan requests a woman who can speak Russian, and Ani is the only woman on the staff who fits the bill. She speaks Russian because her grandmother spoke only Russian. Ivan and Ani hit it off and Ivan invites her to his palatial home, and later hires her as his exclusive companion for a week.

Word of Ivan's marriage to Ani soon leaks out to Ivan's handlers, who relay the information to Ivan's parents, who are determined to have the marriage annulled. Orders are issued. Ani is kidnapped and restrained at Ivan's house, while he runs away. Ani fights back hard, breaking the nose of one of her captors, and biting another one.

One of her captors, Igor (played by Yura Borisov of “Guest from the Future”) admires Ani for her fighting spirit, but nevertheless ties her up with a phone cord to keep her from getting away. Toros (Karren Karagulian of “Red Rocket”) who is in charge of Ivan's family businesses in America, arrives at Ivan's house to try to bring some order to the wild situation.

What follows is a wild search for the missing Ivan, involving confrontations with a tow truck driver, candy store employees, and a lot of other people in New York's Russian community. Ivan, however, has dropped off the grid, and always seems to be one step ahead of his pursuers. Meanwhile, Ivan's parents, Galina Zakharova (Darya Ekamasova of “Alina”), Ivan's domineering mother, and Ivan's father, Nikolai Zakharova (Aleksei Serebryakov of “Nobody”) are on their way to New York in their private jet.

I don't want to give away any more of the plot of this movie, except to say this. The essential question of this movie (or any other romantic story) is: What is the nature Ani's love for Ivan and what is the nature of Ivan's love for Ani? The answer to this question determines the nature of this story, whether it is a romance, a romantic comedy, a farce, a pure comedy, a drama, etc. The answer to this question is very clear in this film, and it fails the test for a romantic comedy, despite its comedic and farcical elements.

I think you will probably be more apt to embrace this movie if you go into it expecting an anti-romantic drama with a lot of nudity, bordering on soft pornography, and adult language. The treatment of women in this film is very harsh, very much in line with the new political realities in America, including the ascendance of Russian influence in the U.S. and the rise of misogyny. I was certainly not ready for all that harshness, but the movie is impressive, nonetheless.

Mikey Madison's powerful performance as Ani in this movie, paired with the quiet humanity of Yura Borisov as Igor, provide a strong emotional foundation for the movie. Writer-director Sean Baker (“The Florida Project”) once again shows his skill with character-driven stories. This film rates a B+.

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