The Marriage App

Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media
The Marriage App Movie

Common Sense says

age 15+

Romantic comedy has language, sex, and drinking.

NR 2022 101 minutes
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  • The Marriage App Scene 1
  • The Marriage App Scene 2
  • The Marriage App Scene 3

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Marriage App is an Argentinian romantic comedy about a married-with-kids couple whose relationship is getting bogged down in shared responsibilities. They try a program that gets them to be more considerate of each other, and it makes things worse. Some of the good deeds are sexual, in one case a threesome. They become amorous in public and kiss passionately in front of their tween kids. Language includes "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "bitch," "damn," "hell," "suck," "masturbate," and "porn." Kids say "f--k." A man pretends to rob a woman, using a fake gun to scare her. She sprays him with Mace. Adults drink alcohol to drunkenness. Someone slips a man a sedative to put him to sleep. In Spanish with English subtitles.

What's the Story?

In THE MARRIAGE APP, Belen (Luisana Lopilato) has been married to Federico (Juan Minujín) for around 10 years. He's a dentist who loves to cook with his friends. She has a successful toy shop. But when it comes to taking care of the kids and the home, Belen feels she's doing more than her fair share, a balance that will be even less fair when he takes off for 10 days in Cancun with his cooking buddies for an amateur competition. He can't even bring himself to tell her his plan for exactly that reason. That's when the Marriage app comes into their lives. For a high initiation fee, the program is designed to help struggling couples regain their love. Each spouse performs good deeds and kindnesses for the other spouse, and along with creating harmony and good faith, these deeds create rewards measured in "miles." Federico needs a thousand to earn the trip to Cancun (which he still hasn't told Belen about). He cooks Belen spectacular dinners, fixes the plumbing, picks up the kids, does homework help, and satisfies her sexually, all for points. She's being extra nice, too, and they seem more loving and happier. But when Belen learns that all his good behavior is about getting away from her rather than improving their marriage, she steps up her own good deeds, maliciously, to thwart his plan and make it to a thousand points first. Soon the two are fighting over who gets to take out the trash. Can their marriage be saved?

Is It Any Good?

Actors Lopilato and Minujín do a fine job in The Marriage App with a story that becomes a bit hokey as the action proceeds. Federico arranges for his wife to be robbed at fake gunpoint by a masked friend of his so that he can rescue her from peril and win lots of miles. The scheme feels heavy-handed and naturally backfires, not just in their life but in the effectiveness and likability of the movie. An otherwise clever plot relies on clichés from less imaginative films: Federico is trying to keep his trip to Mexico secret, yet he blabs about it on speakerphone with his wife right nearby. These lapses in plotting let us down.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the way that the story makes doing good and selfless deeds for a loved one selfish.

  • How important do you think it is for everyone in a family to pitch in and help with the chores that no one likes to do?

  • What do you think happens to the couple after the movie ends?

Movie Details

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