Movie Review: ‘Splitsville’

Two very dysfunctional married couples grapple with love, sex, divorce, and everything in between in the chaotic and wildly farcical ‘Splitsville.’

Dakota Johnson in 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

Opening in limited theaters on August 22nd before expanding wide on September 5th is the new comedy ‘Splitsville', directed by Michael Angelo Covino (‘The Climb’) and written by Covino and Kyle Marvin (‘80 for Brady’).

Splitsville

"An unromantic comedy."

RDrama Comedy

Review
Score

Release Date: Sep 5, 2025

Run Time: 1 hr 40 min

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Michael Angelo Covino

In addition to Covino and Marvin, the film also stars Dakota Johnson (‘Materialists’), Adria Arjona (‘Hit Man’), Nicholas Braun (‘Succession’), O-T Fagbenle (‘Black Widow’), David Castañeda (‘The Umbrella Academy’), and Charlie Gillespie (‘Julie and the Phantoms’).

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Dakota Johnson in 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

A bracing comedy blast from start to finish, ‘Splitsville’ uses the foibles of two mixed-up couples – who really don’t know what the hell they want out of love and marriage, especially the men – to power a hilarious farce that often feels like it’s spiraling out of control even as it reveals some raw truths about the way we handle our most intimate relationships.

Director/co-writer Michael Angelo Covino and co-writer Kyle Marvin both star in the film as the hapless best friends who turn on each other, while Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona ground the story with what could be career-best performances for both.

Story and Direction

Michael Angelo Covino on the set of 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

Seemingly happy married couple Ashley (Arjona) and Carey (Marvin) have just witnessed a terrible car crash on the road to their friends’ summer house in the Hamptons – a tragic occurrence that ends bizarrely with the first of many moments of male nudity – when Ashley delivers a second shock to the kind-hearted but kind of sad-sack Carey: she wants a divorce. She’s been unfaithful, and she wants her freedom.

Carey literally jumps out of the car and runs miles through woods and streams to their destination, where his best friend Paul (Covino) and Paul’s wife Julie (Dakota Johnson) reveal to him that the secret to their marital success is an open marriage. But all is not quite well beneath the surface for them either, and when Carey and Julie sleep together, all hell breaks loose.

From there, ‘Splitsville’ becomes an increasingly absurd whirlwind of people jumping in and out of bed, falling in and out of love, being dishonest, then honest, and then dishonest again, and trying to navigate their own increasingly confused feelings. Carey offers Ashley an open marriage too, but ends up befriending her succession of flaky lovers, all of whom camp out together at their apartment. Meanwhile, Julie and Carey explore the possibility of finding happiness together, while Paul schemes to win his wife back against increasingly difficult odds.

(L to R) Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona on the set of 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

Covino films all this in either tight shots of his actors’ faces or long takes that follow the characters like a bemused observer, the highlight being one long, almost uninterrupted fight scene between Paul and Carey that wallows in a Three Stooges-like symphony of slapstick and destruction (both men also get their eyebrows singed off at separate points in the movie). Another long take follows the procession of men into Ashley’s life as she dates them, dumps them, and then leaves them to hang about the house with Carey as therapist and erstwhile squad leader.

Not surprisingly, it’s the men who have the hardest time reconciling their own feelings, expressing themselves through half-hearted violence or man-childish pouting. It all spins madly and madly around, leaping from one laugh-out-loud moment to another, and while ‘Splitsville’ may not possess enough emotional resonance to make it really stick, it will still leave you buzzing with laughter over the absurdity of the situation and the way the characters act out.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Michael Angelo Covino, Simon Webster and Dakota Johnson in 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

Dakota Johnson is even better here than she was in ‘Materialists,’ displaying an emotional depth and sensuality that was perhaps not visible in the latter film’s transactional matchmaker. Her Julie is the most grounded of the central quartet, realizing the soonest what she wants and understanding that all her choices haven’t been wise ones. Adria Arjona shows off great comic timing here, also keeping her wits about her while she barrels through a cavalcade of unworthy men only to circle back to where she started.

Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino use their own real-life friendship to create the bond between Carey and Paul, two lifelong pals who nevertheless hide a secret competitiveness over everything from the size of their bank accounts to the size of their personal equipment (one’s is far larger than the other’s). While their friendship is stretched far past the breaking point, there’s still an underlying attachment: ‘No knives!’ they both shout at one point in their centerpiece fight, both somehow knowing to stop their toxic masculinity from turning uglier even if they still wreck the place.

Final Thoughts

Adria Arjona in 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

With humor not in abundance at the box office these days, ‘Splitsville’ manages to resurrect the rom-com, the screwball comedy, and the bedroom farce in one fell swoop. It’s manic, zany, and often absurd, yet still manages to get in a few salient points about the social construct of marriage – mainly that once you unzip that most intimate of relationships, it’s difficult to zip it back up again without leaving a few precious things outside.

‘Splitsville’ receives a score of 85 out of 100.

(L to R) Adria Arjona and Kyle Marvin in 'Splitsville'. Photo: Neon.

What is the plot of ‘Splitsville’?

After Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey (Kyle Marvin) runs to his friends, Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Michael Angelo Covino), for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage -- that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.