Brittany Snow, the breakout star of Adam Shankman’s Hairspray, draws her own experiences with an eating disorder into this carefully calibrated directorial debut, which she wrote with Becca Gleason. The Yellowjackets star Courtney Eaton plays Riley, who has just emerged from rehab when she meets Ethan (Thomas Mann), an attentive, caring friend of a friend. Ethan presents as a series of relationship green flags: he is clear about boundaries, intentions and consent. Adorably, they make a pillow fort together on their impromptu first date.
Riley’s ongoing issues with body dysmorphia, her unhealthy obsession with her ex-boyfriend and her addiction to doomscrolling through Instagram, coupled with a post-rehab prohibition of relationships, prevent her engaging romantically with Ethan, however.
Her brain “races every time I see another woman. Am I bigger? Smaller? The same?” she tells her therapist (Gina Rodriguez). The road to recovery is problematic. Riley is so engrossed in her problems that she neglects her sister. She unwisely dates the barman at the murder-mystery dinner theatre where she works. Her boss (Dave Bautista), author of the terrible sub-Poirot scenario, becomes an unlikely sounding board.
Ethan remains steadfast, watching trashy true-crime TV by Riley’s side and fetching her late-night frozen yoghurt. Is he doomed forever to the friend zone or does he have a saviour complex? Is it true love or enabling?
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Blessed with a keenly observed script, Eaton crafts a complex, commendably difficult heroine. Mann rechannels the quirky charm that made Me and Earl and the Dying Girl a sleeper hit. Parachute swerves genre cliches in favour of Gen Z sensitivities and deft wit. The weight of the subjects is counterpointed with good humour and common sense. The action is character driven, not issue led. It’s a heartfelt miniature, prettily shot by the cinematographer Kristen Correll.
Parachute is available on Sky Cinema
