Someone Great (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Someone Great

| image = Someone Great poster.jpeg

| alt =

| caption = Official release poster

| director = Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

| producer = {{Plainlist|

Paul Feig
Jessie Henderson
Anthony Bregman
Peter Cron
Gina Rodriguez

}}

| writer = Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| narrator =

| music = Germaine Franco

| cinematography = Autumn Eakin

| editing = {{Plainlist|

Mollie Goldstein
Jeffrey Wolf

}}

| production_companies = {{Plainlist|

Feigco Entertainment
Likely Story
I Can & I Will Productions

}}

| distributor = Netflix

| released = {{Film date|2019|4|19|United States}}

| runtime = 92 minutes{{cite web|url = http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/someone-great-2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190426052442/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/someone-great-2019|url-status = dead|archive-date = April 26, 2019|title = Someone great|website = British Board of Film Classification|accessdate = April 26, 2019}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Someone Great is a 2019 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (in her directorial debut). The film stars Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow, DeWanda Wise, Lakeith Stanfield, and Peter Vack.

Rodriguez plays a music journalist who decides to go on a last hurrah with her two best friends after her boyfriend dumps her right before she is due to leave New York to take her dream job on the west coast.

It was released by Netflix on April 19, 2019.

Plot

Jenny, a music journalist living in New York City, lands her dream job with Rolling Stone in San Francisco. Her boyfriend of nine years, Nate, breaks up with her, and she spirals into a depression.

Jenny's best friends, Erin, a real estate agent afraid to admit her feelings to her girlfriend, Leah, and Blair, a social media manager who needs to break up with her boyfriend, Will, with whom she has lost chemistry, are the only ones who can bring her out of her funk. Jenny contacts Erin and Blair after learning the concert series known as Neon Classic is putting on a pop-up show at Sony Hall and proposes one last adventure together before she moves, both to celebrate a new chapter in her life and to mend her broken heart.

The girls meet up by taking a day off from work. Throughout the day, they find it difficult to secure tickets for the concert, eventually obtaining them through Jenny's former college crush, Matt, with whom Blair has sex. Erin and Jenny run into Leah, and Erin clearly has some unresolved issues stemming from her fear of commitment.

Blair breaks up with Will after finding him cleaning her apartment without her, and it ends amicably. The girls all go to the concert in the evening and Jenny runs into Nate, but cannot bring herself to talk to him, and gets separated from her friends. Matt takes her to the after-party where she realizes she needs closure.

After a heart-to-heart where Erin admits she needs to grow up and Blair admits that she needs to lower her own expectations, they go to find Jenny at the after-party, but not before Erin meets up with Leah and they acknowledge their feelings for each other and agree to take their relationship slow.

They discover that Jenny is no longer at the after-party and are initially confused when they are told that she left to "finish it", referring to the relationship. Erin realizes that Jenny went to Washington Square Park, where her relationship with Nate began. Jenny is found sitting on the side of the fountain where nine years prior he had written their initials and a smiley face inscribed within a heart.

Initially it seems that Nate came to apologize and ask to take her back, but this is proven to be a dream that Jenny had after she passed out. Blair and Erin come to find her and the three walk off together, promising that their friendship will stay strong even after Jenny leaves for San Francisco.

Cast

File:Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise.png, Gina Rodriguez and Brittany Snow playing the Real Or Fake cocktail game on MTV.{{Citation |title=The Someone Great Cast Play Our Real Or Fake Cocktail Game {{!}} MTV Movies | date=18 April 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DZq5VeiZnY |access-date=2023-06-09 |language=en}}]]

{{Castlist|

Gina Rodriguez as Jenny Young
Brittany Snow as Blair Helms
DeWanda Wise as Erin Kennedy
LaKeith Stanfield as Nate Davis
Peter Vack as Matt Lasher
Rebecca Naomi Jones as Leah
Alex Moffat as Will
RuPaul Charles as Hype
Rosario Dawson as Hannah Davis
Michelle Buteau as Cynthia
Jaboukie Young-White as Mikey
Ben Sidell as Gus
Joe Locicero as Paul
Questlove as himself
Jessie Reyez as herself

}}

Production

In February 2018, Gina Rodriguez signed on to star in and produce a film to serve as the directorial debut of Jennifer Kaytin Robinson from a screenplay she wrote. The story was described as being about loss, growing up and, above all, the everlasting bond of female friendships.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gina-rodriguez-star-produce-netflix-romantic-comedy-someone-great-1088399|title=Gina Rodriguez to Star In, Produce Netflix Romantic Comedy 'Someone Great' (Exclusive)|last=Kit|first=Borys|date=February 26, 2018|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=February 26, 2018|language=en-US}} In March 2018, Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise were cast to portray the close friends of Rodriguez's character, while Lakeith Stanfield also joined the cast to portray the ex-boyfriend of Rodriguez's character.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/brittany-snow-joining-gina-rodriguez-romantic-comedy-someone-great-1097834|title=Brittany Snow Joining Gina Rodriguez in Romantic Comedy 'Someone Great' (Exclusive)|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Borys|last=Kit|date=March 27, 2018|accessdate=April 3, 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tracking-board.com/dewanda-wise-in-talks-to-join-gina-rodriguez-brittany-snow-in-netflix-rom-com-someone-great-exclusive/|title=DeWanda Wise in Talks to Join Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow in Netflix ROM-COM 'Something Great'|website=The Tracking Board|date=March 27, 2018|accessdate=April 3, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lakeith-stanfield-talks-join-gina-rodriguez-rom-someone-great-1098783|title=Lakeith Stanfield in Talks to Join Gina Rodriguez in Rom-Com 'Someone Great'|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Mia|last=Galuppo|date=March 30, 2018|accessdate=April 3, 2018}} In April 2018, Rosario Dawson joined the cast of the film. Principal photography on the film began on April 2, 2018, and wrapped on May 15.{{cite Instagram |last=Robinson |first=Jennifer Kaytin |user=jennkaytin |date=May 15, 2018 |title=Today is the last day of shooting on #SomeoneGreat. There aren't enough words or feelings to properly sum up how singular and special this experience has been. To my sisters @hereisgina @dewandawise @brittanysnow, we fuckin did that. I can't wait for people to see this movie. 📸 by the OG @maryellenmatthewsnyc |postid=Bi0LJcHA6Z1 |access-date=May 15, 2018}}

= Inspiration =

1989, the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, especially the track "Clean", was cited as the inspiration for Someone Great. The film, in turn, inspired Swift to write "Death by a Thousand Cuts", the tenth track on her seventh studio album Lover (2019).{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8528260/taylor-swift-Death-By-a-Thousand-Cuts-Netflix-movie-Someone-Great|title=Taylor Swift Calls Rom-Com Inspiration Behind 'Lover' Song the 'Most Meta Thing That's Ever Happened to Me'|last=Hughes|first=Hilary|date=August 25, 2019|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=August 27, 2019}} Robinson has also cited New Zealand singer Lorde's 2017 song "Supercut" as an inspiration for the film; "[Supercut] existed in the movie before any of the people in the movie existed"—she stated in an interview with Rolling Stone.{{Cite web|url=https://genius.com/a/netflix-s-someone-great-is-inspired-by-the-director-s-love-of-lorde-s-supercut|title=Netflix's 'Someone Great' Is Inspired By The Director's Love Of Lorde's "Supercut"|website=Genius|language=en|access-date=2020-01-18}}

Release

The film was released on April 19, 2019 on Netflix.{{Cite news |last=July |first=Beandrea |date=April 18, 2019 |title='Someone Great': Film Review |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/someone-great-review-1202959/ |access-date=December 23, 2024 |work=The Hollywood Reporter}}

Critical response

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|83|7|52|What Someone Great lacks in originality it makes up for in relatability and charm, thanks in large part to the undeniable chemistry between its talented leads.|access-date=April 5, 2024|ref=y}} {{Metacritic film prose|63|16|ref=yes|access-date=April 5, 2024}}

Soundtrack

After the release of the film, the song "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo, which Erin and a pantsless Jenny sung and danced to in the film's beginning, debuted at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8511286/lizzo-first-billboard-hot-100-entry-truth-hurts |title=Lizzo Scores First Billboard Hot 100 Entry With 'Truth Hurts' |magazine=Billboard |date=May 13, 2019 |accessdate=August 27, 2019}} later peaking at number 1.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/lizzo/chart-history/hsi/ |title=Lizzo Chart History |magazine=Billboard |date= |accessdate=August 27, 2019}}