SELL BY

Every so often, we need a short romantic comedy about a group of friends dealing with relationships - it's an overdone formula, but when done right, they work so well and personally bring me so much delight. 'Sell By' in another assemble rom-com that I'm happy to add into my rotation - and it's also queer cinema, so double win.

Adam (Scott Evans, 'The Lovely Bones', 'Confessions of a Shopaholic') and Marklin (Augustus Prew, 'Kick-Ass 2', 'Charlie St. Cloud') have been dating for five years now, and cracks are starting to appear. While Marklin's online fashion blog sees him booming, Adam is a struggling artist, painting artworks that aren't his own and getting no credit and little of the profit. This is where a lot of the tension lies in their relationship, as well as the secrets that they both hide. Their best friend Cammy (Michelle Buteau, 'Always Be My Maybe', 'Isn't It Romantic') is in a dating rut and while she's currently dating someone, when she finds out he is homeless she is unsure how to handle the situation. Their other friend, Haley (Zoe Chao, 'Downhill', 'Where'd You Go, Bernadette') is falling in love with the 17-year-old boy she is tutoring. We also follow Adam's colleague Elizabeth (Kate Walsh, 'The Perks Of Being A Wallflower', 'Girls Trip') and her 15-year relationship being tested as she doesn't want kids, but her boyfriend does.

In any relationship, platonic or sexual, the fear of a sell-by date is something that concerns most of us, and 'Sell By' does a fantastic job at exploring that fear and the possible outcomes from it.

The whole cast has fantastic chemistry; you really feel the years of friendship they are meant to have. Scott Evans proves himself as an actor and not just the other sexy Evans brother, both nailing comedy beats and those more emotional scenes. Michelle Buteau is the comedy scene-stealer of the film and gets to shine in more of a lead role than her previous works.

Romantic comedies are one of the easiest genres to sell me on - if you make me laugh in the first five minutes, you'll have me - and 'Sell By' did that. While it might not be award-winning or anything ground-breaking, it's a nice, simple film that will tug at those heartstrings and provides some stellar laughs.