Streaming: ’On the Rocks’

Sofia Coppola’s latest, “On the Rocks,” takes place in pre-COVID New York City, before the horror of mask acne and shuttered bars. It leaves one thirsty to run into a dry martini on a wet night, perhaps at the 21 Club table where Bogart asked Bacall to marry him.

We meet Laura (Rashida Jones) and Dean (Marlon Wayans) at their wedding reception — cutting from pink roses to white veil, Coppola establishes in seconds that this is a wedding you wish you’d attended. We jump ahead a few years to the couple’s life with two adorable kids.

Laura’s a writer — you can tell by her Paris Review T-shirt and Strand Bookstore tote (and her laptop opened to blank page). Dean’s work is something fancy that involves building followers and engagement, and is apparently quite remunerative, given their fabulous apartment. It’s hard for Laura not to be distracted by the floor-to-ceiling windows that draw her eyes to the bustling city. To avoid starting her next book, Laura uses the label maker to organize old drafts and chats her mom friend Vanessa (Jenny Slate, funny enough that it’s a slight regret that she was not given a longer scene or two). When Laura takes late-night walks in the city, we hear an echo of Scarlett Johansson in “Lost in Translation.”

The other man in Laura’s life is her father, Felix (Bill Murray), a rake of the old school. He charms from his first greeting, “Hey kiddo,” and enjoys many a martini — but Laura never fully lets him off the hook for leaving the family when she was a girl. Felix used to move de Koonings and Hockneys in the art market and hasn’t fully retired from making deals, or chasing younger women.

When a bag of toiletries belonging to Dean’s leggy colleague Fiona (Jessica Henwick) turns up in his luggage, Laura suspects infidelity (we suspect that, as a blocked writer, she needs a real-life adventure). Perhaps her dad, a master philanderer, can help her catch a straying husband? Felix calls on concierges across the globe for information and even has Dean followed by private detectives — apparently he went to Cartier but failed to gift Laura any new jewelry.

With caviar and crackers on hand, father and daughter zip around in a red convertible following Dean on a night out (the action photography is surprisingly adroit, given Coppola’s reputation for mostly filming lush interiors). In a desperate attempt at certainty, the amateur gumshoes fly down to Mexico in the hopes of catching Dean in the act, though of course its Felix who acts flagrantly, singing “Mexicali Rose” to a rather stunned audience at the bar.

While “On the Rocks” won’t be at the center of Coppola’s directorial retrospective, it will be adored by many for Murray’s performance. His work with her is the best of his illustrious career — she pulls from his incredible talent, which is rarely seen to the fullest. “On the Rocks” concludes with a resolution for Laura and Dean, but is always more interested in the story of father and daughter. Bill Murray, as always, is the one who gets away.