With their blond, perky marriage, Dax (Cy Carter) and Olive (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) are the picture of happiness. They have dinner parties, they live in a cute house, but oh, wait? What's that? That would be the looming of conflict.
In A Quiet Little Marriage, Dax and Olive battle over the decision to have a baby. Dax, who had an implied fucked up childhood, puts his foot down on the thought of bringing a baby into this cruel world and expects Olive to do the same. What ensues is a film of a couple who try to see who can out passive aggressive each other. Along for the ride are their complicated confidants, Dax's troubled drug-addict brother (Jimmi Simpson) and Olive's Alzheimered dad.
Written (with some help from the leads) and directed by newcomer Mo Perkins, A Quiet Little Marriage has minimal character development and plot advancement other than the baby drama and burdensome relatives. While we know that Dax and Olive are indeed happy and love each other, we don't see it much except for the rampant amount of sexing.
The plot is a bit formulaic and unsurprising, but the flick has some wonderful performances. Carter is perhaps not the strongest of leading men, but Ellis is a delight and surprise. Known mostly for her stint as the Waitress on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (in fact, a great deal of the cast has roots on the show too, including Ellis's hubby, Charlie Day), Ellis worked her dramatic chops to full effect. She illuminates the screen, which is rare in a film who's cinematographer seems to hate lighting the scenes, and the audience feels for her the most in the film's journey. Simpson plays his part well, and Danny DeVito's daughter even makes an appearance as his mute, drug addict GF.
All-in-all, A Quiet Little Marriage is a contemplative and fairly authentic look at the minutiae of marriage. It's at times quiet and soft, and at others, it's messy and full of conflict. The film itself can be described as just that: quiet and a little bit messy.
Written by: Darcie Duttweiler
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