‘Together’ Isn’t Quite As Cohesive As Its Title Implies

Australian director Michael Shanks makes his feature film debut with Together, an entertaining body horror thrill ride that’s unfortunately not quite as cohesive as its title or premise imply. Despite its gonzo sense of humour, gnarly gore and great performances from actors/real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco, it doesn’t quite… well, come together thematically or narratively.

Millie (Brie) and Tim (Franco) are two thirty-somethings that move away from the comforts of city-dwelling to a quiet town for the next stage of their life. She’s a teacher and he’s an aimless musician, and there’s some animosity growing between them. But when they fall into a mysterious cave on a hike and drink some strange water, the two become more attracted to each other than ever – literally.

Together is at its most fun when it twists the definition of physical attraction in absurdly grotesque ways. It reads as an allegory for co-dependent relationships as Millie and Tim desperately try to remain their own individual people while their bodies endlessly try to fuse them together.

The concept makes for some delightfully unhinged sequences of body horror as this couple are involuntarily magnetic towards one another. There’s a great scene in a hallway that turns doorframes into cliff faces as they ‘fall’ towards one another on the floor and desperately try to avoid merging.

A gonzo body horror affair

Brie and Franco are both great in the film, even if their performances take a little while to get going. Their real life marital status adds another layer onto the film’s direction and comedy, and they fully embrace the absurdity of the concept and work in tandem to deliver the film’s gross-out and burst-out-laughing moments.

Indeed, Together is a rather funny film. Shanks has a wicked sense of humour as both writer and director, effectively utilising his form to maximise the comedy throughout. Given their extensive comedy resumes, it’s also no surprise that Brie and Franco are naturals at pulling this stuff off.

Unfortunately, Shanks’ pen game isn’t quite so strong when it comes to the story and its themes. As already stated, it initially reads as a metaphor for dependent relationships and how they can feel like a trap. Naturally, it seems like the film is trying to say that even in the most committed of relationships, a couple still needs the room to feel like two separate people.

There’s also the element that Tim is struggling with the death of his parents, where his father died in bed while her mother simply remained there smiling, without moving. It’s an effectively creepy visual, and seems to bolster this idea wholeheartedly.

Together doesn’t fully stick the landing

However, the film’s escalating craziness results in a serious tonal dissonance in Together between the stuff that’s aiming to be truly horrific and the absurd body horror stuff. The subplot with Tim’s parental trauma is almost entirely dropped after the first act, and feels like a leftover thread from a prior draft.

The ending of Together also felt completely at odds with the rest of the film’s themes for me. I won’t spoil anything, but I did not find it to be a satisfying conclusion to the narrative up until that point. With some tweaks and a different tone I think it could’ve worked much better, but the strangely jovial tone of it substantially irked me given the film that preceded it.

There’s also the uncomfortable fact that Together has been hit with an international plagiarism lawsuit which alleges that the film’s story and a number of moments has been stolen from an indie film called Better Half. The details of the suit seem pretty damning, and it’ll be a shame if the elements of the film that do feel original and funny were lifted wholesale.

There’s plenty of fun to be had in Together. It’s got some great performances and genuinely fun moments that show real promise for Michael Shanks as a director. Ultimately though, the film barks more than it bites as it struggles to fully capitalise on the thematic potential that its premise has.

★★★

Together screened as part of this year’s Sydney Film Festival, and is in Australian cinemas on July 31st, 2025.