In Fidelity (2024) Movie Review: A frustratingly uninspired look at monogamy

Holly (Cara Buono) is dying. She and her loving and supportive husband Lyle (Chris Parnell) have been in a relationship for 30 years without ever feeling like they needed anyone other than each other. Their estranged Gen-Z daughter Greta (Willows Sheilds) is not particularly fond of Holly – possibly because she had always been extremely strict towards her. However, at such an obvious juncture in her life, Holly questions if her being monogamous has restricted her from expressing and experiencing what she truly desires. Rob Margolies’ “In Fidelity” explores this aspect of a long-term relationship but with a frustratingly uninspired outlook.

“In Fidelity” introduces us to the urgency of Holly’s situation and the idea that she has never been in a romantic relationship ever in her life before meeting her husband Lyle. It’s obvious that the inevitability of her life slipping away might make her question it. However, director Margolies’ approach to exploring this desire in her never truly feels more than just a plot device.

Both Holly and Lyle feel like characters who are never truly fleshed out well. Holly’s character, beyond being a dutiful wife to Lyle is just about explained by the fact that her young daughter hates her and that she has cancer. Veteran actor Cara Buono tries her best to bestow some life into her, but on paper, this character has nothing about her that makes you feel empathetic or even remotely interested in her last endeavor, or her present condition. Lyle, on the other hand, is clearly spelled out as a magician, or an ex-magician who is well-known. But, Chris Parnell plays him in such a cumbersome, one-note way that he never truly feels authentic in his own skin.

Willow Shields as Greta and Chris ParnellLyle in In Fidelity (2024). — Willow Shields as Greta and Chris Parnell
Lyle in In Fidelity (2024).

However, this is the least of the problems that “In Fidelity” has. Willows Sheilds who plays Greta serves no purpose in this story beyond being a tipping point to introduce polyamory. The Gen-Z angst – foul-mouthed attitude where each sentence ends with a ‘fuckin’’ and colored hair might all sound great, but her character evokes no other emotion other than frustration from you. Her minuscule efforts to become a successful artist are shown with such tired strokes that you wonder what the intention behind having her in the script was in the first place. Oh, and there’s also Dennis Haysbert who plays Hoyt, a rockstar who seems to have a fancy for Holly and is introduced in order to either let Holly test uncharted waters, or dive into Lyle’s jealousy that he tries to hide with every hair on his body.

The one apartment building where the entire film is set, or the two apartments where most of it takes place has no personality either. So, if you are disengaged by these hollow characters, you are not even left with something else that you can admire. I mean, somewhere within the film, there’s a strong idea about what clear-cut communication and confession can do for people and their relationships, but director Rob Margolies seems like he got lost within the context of his script’s hook and was never able to explore anything beyond capturing a bunch of tepid characters whose experiences are a chore to sit through.