The Sun Never Sets

The once prolific (and erratic) indie writer-director Joe Swanberg (LOL; Hannah Takes the Stairs; Drinking Buddies) returns with his first feature in six years, and it’s a gentle, affectionate, modestly scaled comedy, not unlike one of Richard Linklater’s “Before” films. Set in a small town in Alaska (glowingly photographed in 35mm), it’s a portrait of Wendy (Dakota Fanning), and her dating misadventures after her partner Jack (Jake Johnson), who is older, divorced, with a couple of kids, suggests she take a few months to see what’s out there. It’s a sincerely generous and mature invitation, and a terrible mistake. She’s reluctant to take him up on it but it’s Jack who regrets the arrangement when Wendy bumps into an old flame and sparks fly.

Because Swanberg evidently likes his characters and enjoys their inconsistencies, we do too.

Fanning and Johnson are just remarkably easy to root for.

Brian Tallerico, rogerebert.com