The Sun Never Sets (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment
25 minutes ago
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THE SUN NEVER SETS (2026)

Starring Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson, Cory Michael Smith, Debby Ryan, Anna Konkle, Lamorne Morris, Karley Sciortino, Joe Swanberg, Phil Phillips, Brandon Daley, Katelyn Douglass, Drew Angle, Slavik Lund, Dan Johnson, Lennix Lund, Kincaid Zatalokin, Charlie Golike, Sanjay Choudrey, Tim Nienhueser, Ashley Bower, Ben Walkup and Brian T. Harten.

Screenplay by Joe Swanberg.

Directed by Joe Swanberg.

Distributed by IFC. 103 minutes. Rated R.

About a decade after the brief fringe popularity of Joe Swanberg’s ad-libbed mumblecore films (such as Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas and Playing With Fire), the filmmaker is back with a movie that wants to party like it’s 2015.

The Sun Never Sets is Swanberg’s first proper feature in almost a decade, his last being Win It All in 2017. He popped up in 2020 with two barely remembered projects – Build the Wall (as director) and The Rental (as co-writer) – but this is the first time in years he’s returned to full Swanberg mode.

The new movie reunites the filmmaker with his regular collaborator Jake Johnson. It reminds us of both what was fascinating and what was irritating about Swanberg’s work. His films are extremely natural – like eavesdropping on life happening. Unfortunately, that is not always a good thing in a film. The dialogue and the storylines tend to be meandering, awkward and occasionally dull.

Not much happens, and it happens slowly, with all the “uhs” and “likes” and “you knows” and “sort ofs” awkwardly retained in the name of naturalism.

Yes, that is what conversations sound like in real life, but let’s face it – you would not want to see most of your conversations on the big screen. Sometimes there is a point to having words set up to come out of an actor’s mouth. Just like life not having a three-act structure, human interactions are not naturally intelligent or intriguing. We may not talk like someone in an Aaron Sorkin screenplay – but we wish we could.

Ad-libbed performances are a very specialized skill set. Some of the finest actors in the world cannot really pull them off. For example, I was shocked in Playing With Fire how awful Sam Rockwell – who is a fine actor by anyone’s standing – was at ad libbing. In Happy Christmas, Anna Kendrick and Melanie Lynskey – also both acclaimed performers – felt very awkward in the style as well.

This isn’t just a Swanberg issue. Even Christopher Guest – arguably the master of improvised filmmaking with This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman and Best of Show – told me years ago that well‑known actors often can’t disappear into this kind of filmmaking. “Generally the thing is, if they’re very famous… it didn’t work at all.” Guest said. “It didn’t make any sense. It sticks out a bit… This is a very specific kind of work. It’s not everyone that you can say, oh, yeah, just jump on.”

Well, in fairness, Dakota Fanning is the closest to a movie star that you are going to find in The Sun Never Sets, although several other cast members have had long, interesting careers.

The good news is that Fanning is pretty good at this kind of acting. Sure, her dialogue gets a little garbled up every once in a while, but that is a given for this kind of filmmaking. Johnson is an old hand at this, so he also mostly feels in the zone for this kind of work. The rest of the cast is up and down with it but generally fits the naturalistic vibe.

Fanning plays Wendy, an Alaskan heavy machinery operator who is dating Jack (Johnson), a divorced writer and school basketball coach with two children from his previous marriage. They are very happy together for the most part, but he does not want to get married again and have children. When Wendy’s friend Lyndsay (Debby Ryan, perhaps best known from her Disney Channel days) gets pregnant, this opens up a discussion with Wendy and Jack about what each is looking for in life.

He decides, kind of unilaterally and completely against Wendy’s wishes and protestations, that since their wants and needs are so different she should look around and see if she can find someone who would fit more cleanly into her life. They are not breaking up, he insists, and he will not be dating around, but if she wants to experience the possibility of marriage, her own children, buying her dad’s old boat and life with an outdoorsman, she should give it a try. Then they will truly know she wants to be there for the right reasons.

So Wendy goes on a few first dates – of varying uncomfortableness. Then she runs into Chuck (Cory Michael Smith) an ex who she still has feelings for. Chuck is a pilot and has been traveling the world. They broke up under strained circumstances, but he is back in town and seems to have changed. Now he’s open to marriage and kids and camping. (Well, he was always open to camping.) And despite the issues that caused the breakup, she falls back into the relationship.

Needless to say, Jack does not take this well.

Jack tries to backtrack on the plan, but Wendy is not sure. Chuck starts showing his old ways and Wendy starts thinking about going back with Jack, but by then he is dating a woman named Sara (Karley Sciortino). One of the original dates even pops back into Wendy’s life. Things keep going back and forth, with them both willing to commit at different times, but never at the same time.

It’s a small, intimate story of hurt feelings and broken hearts and it actually does fit into Swanberg’s wheelhouse fairly well, making it more accessible than some of his other films. The movie still doesn’t completely work, and it often seems the idea is just to throw stuff at the characters and make them emote while at the whim of fickle fate.

It is needlessly vague – even at the end, we think we see where this is going when a completely new complication comes up right before the end credits. Does it completely change things or is it just another slightly more trivial plot beat? We will never know, apparently.

In the end, The Sun Never Sets is a reminder of both Swanberg’s gifts and his limitations. When the film leans into its small, lived‑in moments, it can be quietly affecting. When it leans too hard on improvisation and narrative drift, it loses its footing. There’s honesty here, and a few sharp emotional beats, but the film’s reluctance to commit – much like its characters – keeps it from fully landing.

Jay S. Jacobs

https://youtu.be/nTIfzXx8nJY?si=WazJIkmhykYDkctn