Life Partners

"Life Partners" would make a great television show. It has an engaging cast of characters and it's full of light, observational humor. The actors are proven winners from their own hit TV shows: There's Leighton Meester from "Gossip Girl," Gillian Jacobs from "Community," Adam Brody from "The O.C." and Abby Elliot from "Saturday Night Live." The story is nothing complex; it's just about a couple of friends, and by the end, we feel like these characters would stay pretty much the same if we "tuned-in next week."

Page (Jacobs) is a little bit up tight, a lawyer and a homeowner; she's growing up and settling down. Then there's Sasha (Meester), she's had the same entry level job since she left college, she seems to seek out self-destructive romantic relationships and she considers herself to be a musician though her guitar sits in the corner, untouched. This odd couple relationship is further complicated by another, somewhat gimmicky, inconsistency: One of these women is straight and the other is a lesbian.

There are really no spoilers, no secret desires between the two -- no conniving manipulations -- both women go through a series of common, everyday situations that they react to with common, everyday neuroses.

There are some bumpy patches along the way. The straight woman meets a guy that's pretty much amazing, Tim (Brody), whom she holds on to, and the gay woman continue to go through a series of unfulfilling relationships. The straight woman recognizes that she has some character flaws and makes a concerted effort to change them, while the gay woman acknowledges that her life is unsatisfactory, and looks for a new job out of necessity, but never picks up her guitar, though she threatens to until the very last scene. There are some nuanced and endearing moments in this movie, but as a whole, it seem far better suited for a series format.

The bonus features on this Blu-ray disc a brief and uninvolved. Some of the cast members talk a little bit about how much they loved their characters; then the production designer and the costume designer talk about the choices they made and why. There is also a featurette of sorts: "AXS TV: A Look at 'Life Partners,'" and this is really just an extended trailer.

"Life Partners"
Blu-ray + DVD
Rated R / 93 minutes
www.magpictures/lifepartners