An Improvised Spiral That Never Loses Control

MOVIE REVIEWS
Danny Is My Boyfriend
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Genre: Comedy
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director(s): Mechi Lakatos, Lucy Sandler
Writer(s): Lucy Sandler, Mechi Lakatos
Cast: Lucy Sandler, Mechi Lakatos, Brooke Smith, Rachel Brunner, Maleah Goldberg, Michelle Thompson
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: What happens when a comedy stops trying to be quick-witted and commits fully to being honest about how people actually behave when they’re hurt, embarrassed, and making things worse by the second? DANNY IS MY BOYFRIEND answers that question by leaning into discomfort and letting it spiral. There’s an honesty here, there’s something that lets the people in this story exist, break down, and come out swinging on the otherside, telling a cathartic story about who they are.

Directed by and starring Mechi Lakatos and Lucy Sandler, this fully improvised debut feature is built on a misleadingly simple premise. Two women discover they’re dating the same man. Instead of reacting with conviction or clarity, they react as real people would. Poorly. Emotionally. With half-baked ideas and misplaced certainty. From there, the film snowballs into an existentialist comedy of errors that feels chaotic on the surface but is surprisingly controlled beneath the surface.

Lucy Sandler plays ‘Lucy’ as tightly wound, living back at home after a breakup that landed her in a psych ward. The performance never asks for pity and never turns her mental health history into a punchline. It simply helps to show the audience the why and how she moves through the world. Everything feels urgent to her, even when it shouldn’t. That tension fuels the drive scene throughout the film.

Mechi Lakatos plays ‘Mechi,’ a socially awkward character whose discomfort reads differently but cuts just as deep. Where Lucy overcompensates, Mechi hesitates. Where Lucy spirals outward, Mechi folds inward. Their chemistry isn’t based on banter or opposites attract energy. It’s built on shared humiliation and the quiet realization that neither of them knows what they’re doing.

Danny himself barely matters (sorry, but true), and that’s intentional. He’s less a character than a catalyst. The film isn’t interested in him as a villain or a mystery. What matters is what Lucy and Mechi project onto him and how quickly their supposed plan for revenge collapses into something else entirely.

The film's improvised nature is its greatest strength. Scenes ramble, conversations double back, and characters interrupt themselves mid-thought. But none of it feels indulgent. Lakatos and Sandler understand that improvisation only works when performers trust each other enough to fail on camera. That trust is everywhere here. Every awkward pause lands because it’s allowed to exist.

The ensemble cast amplifies that energy. Brooke Smith, Rachel Brunner, Maleah Goldberg, and Michelle Thompson cycle in and out as accomplices, confidants, and obstacles, each bringing a distinct flavor of absurdity without hijacking the film. No one is performing for laughs alone. They’re playing people who think they’re being reasonable in unreasonable situations.

Tonally, the film walks a fine line. It’s genuinely funny, often the kind of funny that makes your gut muscles hurt, but it never feels cruel. Even when characters make terrible decisions, the film doesn’t mock them. It understands that bad ideas are often born from vulnerability, not malice.

There are moments when the runtime stretches the idea a little too thin. At one hundred minutes, a slightly tighter edit, even ten minutes or so, would focus the escalation without sacrificing the energy. But the extra space also allows the film to deepen its emotional footing. By the time it reaches its final act, the audience understands these women well enough to care where they land.

What ultimately pushes DANNY IS MY BOYFRIEND above a typical indie comedy is its commitment to companionship without turning that bond into a slogan. The film never flat-out states its themes. It demonstrates them through glances, miscommunications, and moments of unexpected loyalty. The relationship between Lucy and Mechi evolves not because they suddenly become wiser, but because they recognize something familiar in each other’s mess.

Los Angeles functions less as a setting and more as a pressure cooker. Everyone feels slightly out of place, slightly performative, slightly desperate to appear functional. The city doesn’t create the chaos, but it doesn’t relieve it either. By the end, DANNY IS MY BOYFRIEND doesn’t offer up the resolution you’re expecting, and it couldn’t have ended any other way! The film understands that closure is overrated and growth is rarely linear. What matters is that these characters survive their own worst instincts long enough to see each other.

This is the kind of debut that offers confidence without arrogance. It’s messy by design, precise in execution, and deeply aware of what makes people funny when they’re not trying to be. DANNY IS MY BOYFRIEND stands out by trusting its performers and letting human awkwardness do the heavy lifting.

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