The Sun Never Sets
Thirtysomething Wendy (Dakota Fanning), an Alaskan construction excavator, is feeling at odds when her best friend Lindsay (Debby Ryan) announces her pregnancy. Wendy thinks she's happy with divorced dad of two Jack (Jake Johnson, "Drinking Buddies"), even though he rejects a second marriage, more children, doesn't like to camp and has no interest in the $35K sailboat she's considering buying. Wendy will become even more unmoored when Jack, clearly confident in their relationship, suggests she take the summer off to figure out what she really wants, but he'll change his mind when she runs into her old flame Chuck (Cory Michael Smith, "May December," "Saturday Night's" Chevy Chase) while "The Sun Never Sets."
Laura's Review: B
After a 10 year break from feature film directing, writer/director Joe Swanberg ("Hannah Takes the Stairs") still shows traces of his mumblecore roots while also adhering more closely to his own written script, having honed his skills over three seasons of his Netflix series 'Easy.' Like that show, Swanberg is still examining messy romantic relationships, this time jumping off from his own post-divorce experience casting his "Drinking Buddies" star as his stand-in. He was also lured to shoot in Alaska by his producer, Anchorage resident Ashleigh Snead, gifting the film with natural beauty.
We meet Wendy as she goes to check out a 1989 sailboat that is a replica of one her dad used to have. The seller, Ted (Phil Phillips), informs her that $35K is as low as he can go, promising to call her should he get an offer, giving her first choice. She then wends her way to a school gymnasium where her boyfriend Jack is coaching a game, his young son Jude (Kincaid Zatalokin) shadowing him like a mini-me, clad in the same white shirt and tie. Jude and Jack's daughter Abby (Charlie Golike) adore Wendy and she and Jack share a similar quirky sense of humor in what appears to be the happiest of found families, but when Jack notices a trace of concentration on Wendy's face, she reveals her feelings about Lindsay's pregnancy and Lindsay's questioning of Wendy's own desire for marriage and children. Jack's seemingly selfless offer to allow Wendy to figure out what she really wants distresses her, although he states he'll be waiting right there for what he clearly thinks will be her inevitable return. After all, he tells his buddy, all Alaska has to offer is 'goofy guys who smell like salmon.'
Trying to do what Jack has directed, Wendy goes out with Danny (Tim Nienhueser), a friend of Lindsay's, but her heart isn't in it and it shows. Later, she'll accept a date with Brad (Brandon Daley), who's long had an unrequited crush on her. That begins awkwardly then goes completely south when Wendy spots Chuck playing pool and the two stop dead in their tracks. Her former long term boyfriend has returned to Alaska to become an air taxi pilot and is clearly thrilled by the idea of picking up where they left off, both of them having apparently forgotten that where they left off wasn't such a good place. Soon the two are off on his seaplane, camping in spectacular wilderness and Jack begins to realize he made a big mistake.
What becomes clear in Swanberg's plotting is that while both men offer things Wendy desires, it would take both of them to make her life whole. The film's title refers not only to Alaska's midnight sun, but how feelings for lovers past and present never really go away.
Dakota Fanning is the film's linchpin and the actress encompasses everything the role demands, from her initially carefree vibe to increasing levels of confusion and mania as she careens from one man to the other. There is a lop-sidedness to her conundrum, however, Jake Johnson's more appealing portrayal of Jack making him the man to root for whereas Cory Michael Smith begins to turn us off when his immaturity and selfishness quickly become evident, yet Swanberg takes us someplace unexpected when all is said and done.
Support is strong from Anna Konkle's supportive ex-wife to Jack, Elizabeth, to Karley Sciortino as Jack's aggressive fling Sara. Johnson's former 'New Girl' costar Lamorne Morris offers Jack advice over Zoom. On Wendy's side, Ryan is grounding as Lindsay while Daley expertly plays that familiar somewhat embarrassing 'wrong one' who nonetheless elicits good will. Cinematographer Eon Mora ("Drinking Buddies") makes good use of Alaska's riches with his crisp lensing. The film's fem soundtrack features selections from Alice Gerlach, Automatic and La Luz with two original songs cowritten and performed by the filmmaker's brother, James Swanberg.
"The Sun Never Sets" is a realistic portrayal of the complex messes we humans make trying to navigate romantic relationships and a welcome return to the big screen for Joe Swanberg.
Independent Film Company released "The Sun Never Sets" in select theaters on 8/28/26, opening wide on 9/4/26.
