Review: 'Things Like This' Centers Plenty of Fun in a Zippy Rom-Com

Max Talisman writes, directs, and stars in a refreshing rom-com that brings two very different men with the same name together in a romance that's challenged by scars from the past.

Namely: Zack Anthony (Talisman) keeps being dumped, dragged, and ignored. An aspiring novelist, Anthony lives in a flat that's being paid for by a longtime friend who notes that Anthony is "a mess," and encourages him to find some direction in his life. Direction may be hard to come by, though, when Anthony's other friends, Chloe and Peter, rely on mangled aphorisms to chart their own lives, not exactly setting the best example. As for his love life – let's just say it's not exactly auspicious when the film begins with what might be the least successful, if well-intentioned, attempt at a gentle breakup to be committed to gay movie celluloid.

Zack Mandel (Joey Pollair), meantime, has everything his namesake lacks: A job, a boyfriend, and a work wife who falls somewhere between self-described best friend and opinionated busybody. Two of of three of those things are less than satisfactory, however; Mandel's boss is a horror, a talent agency owner who doesn't just center on herself, but who sucks the air out of the room (and the earnings rightfully belonging to her employees) for her own benefit. As for the long-term live-in boyfriend, he's a narcissistic drag.

In an opening montage, the two Zacks repeatedly come close to crossing paths as they wend around New York City. When those paths finally cross, though, it's love at first sight... complete with a bar tab, since Anthony is given to gulping drinks before confessing to a lack of ready cash.

The two make for unlikely pair, and yet they fit so naturally that even a plot point establishing an unexpected tie between the two feels credible. Chalk that up to the chemistry between two appealing leads.

Talisman's script is playfully self-aware enough to poke fun at the genre to which it belongs, as classic sit-com staples crop up all along the way (misunderstandings, emotional revelations, self-sabotage, and grand gestures meant to prove love and sincerity all clock in dutifully).

But the film also makes observations about the damage that familial and social rejection does to queer youth who then grow up to be self-doubting, rather than self-empowered, adults. That the film communicates deep-seated pain and ponders questions of fate while still finding laugher and joy is a testament to how well Talisman threads the needle between formula and freshness.

"Things Like This" is available now on VOD.