On the Rocks

The iconic Bill Murray adds another stellar performance to his résumé with his turn as retired New York art dealer and womaniser Felix, whose daughter Laura (Rashida Jones), a frazzled mother, begins to suspect that her oft-absent husband (Marlon Wayans) is cheating on her. She turns to Dad for help, and Felix suggests the two of them shadow the wayward hubby. Thus begins Sofia Coppola’s father-daughter comedic drama, a hijinks-filled confection that showcases the brilliant interplay between the martini-guzzling Murray—definitely a member of the ‘unwoke’ generation here—and Jones, the latter wondering if she’s squandered her life. This is cut-gem cinema of the highest order.

‘[A] lovely, elegant, funny little film… On the Rocks is practically a distillation of Coppola’s Lost in Translation style. Each scene is compact and feels lived in, without any urgent narrative drive. That elegant surface makes it seem like a trifle, but there are layers beneath… After a cocktail party with Felix… Laura walks alone down Fifth Avenue, past lights shining from windows of luxury stores… It is a beautiful, wistful scene. As Laura walks maskless on those Manhattan streets, On the Rocks carries a whiff of unintended nostalgia for the glamorous, soigné New York of 2019.’—Caryn James, BBC Culture