Another Round

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round follows four friends, including Mads Mikkelsen’s Martin and Magnus Millang’s Nikolaj, as they attempt to go about their daily lives while constantly drinking alcohol throughout the day. It’s an intriguing premise that’s employed to watchable yet entirely erratic effect by Vinterberg, as the filmmaker, working from a script written with Tobias Lindholm, delivers an overlong drama that’s undoubtedly at its best in its relatively compelling first half – with the agreeable atmosphere heightened by the uniformly strong efforts of a talented cast. (Mikkelsen’s typically commanding work remains an ongoing highlight here, to be sure.) There’s little doubt, then, that Another Round‘s meandering midsection, which is compounded by a narrative that’s often egregiously predictable and by the numbers, drains the viewer’s interest to a progressively distressing extent, and it’s difficult, certainly, to work up much enthusiasm (or sympathy) for a final third devoted almost entirely to the protagonists’ downward spiral – with the oddly (and somewhat incongruously) upbeat finale ensuring that the whole thing ultimately does end on a rather lackluster note.

**1/2 out of ****