As long as there have been love stories, there have been stories about love triangles. However, the 2025 movie The Threesome tries to strike into new territory by forcing its central trio to answer how they’ll behave when faced with life’s greatest responsibility. Starring Zoey Deutch, Ruby Cruz, Jonah Hauer-King, and Jaboukie Young-White, The Threesome has a charming cast who do what they can with the thin characters as obstacle after obstacle stands in the way of the central couple’s ultimate happiness.

With a few twists thrown in to liven up the narrative, The Threesome delivers an easy-to-watch romantic dramedy that won’t make you feel too much, but will hold your attention. For a movie that begins with a threesome, the story is fairly traditional, as The Threesome uses its offbeat premise to explore enduring questions about love and partnership. After Connor (Hauer-King) accidentally gets both Olivia (Deutch) and Jenny (Cruz) pregnant, each character has to decide what they want parenthood to look like, and if it’s possible that true love, cheesy as it may sound, could be part of that equation.

The Threesome Struggles To Give All Members Of Its Trio Equal Time & Attention

The Movie Adheres To The Idea That Romantic Love Is Something That Happens Between Two People Alone

I was by no means going into The Threesome thinking that the film would end with Olivia, Connor, and Jenny happily cohabitating as a throuple, raising their kids together. It’s not that kind of movie. However, I was hoping that the story would try a little harder to make Jenny seem like an important part of the equation. A common fear in these situations is that two people will end up falling in love, and the third will be left in the dust, but it’s the story that does this to Jenny more than Connor and Olivia do.

I’ve always liked watching Cruz in the past, but as Jenny, she was reduced to not much more than a plot device, an inconvenience standing in the way of Olivia and Connor. The Threesome does try to make everyone appropriately flawed, which opens the door for us to empathize with Jenny. Other than her goody-two-shoes nature, we know little about her, not that we know much about anyone. As much as Jenny is left in the dust, one of my biggest problems with The Threesome was how ready the movie was to punish Olivia.

It’s likely that The Threesome decides to hit Olivia where it hurts over and over again because it’s so painfully obvious that she and Connor will end up together. The Threesome barely makes Jenny a viable love interest. It’s clear that all Connor feels for her is pity and obligation, which are never a winning combination when it comes to romance. However, there isn’t much more than a montage to justify Olivia and Connor’s epic love story.

Olivia’s biggest sin in the story is being a touch afraid of commitment and behaving rashly when hurt. I doubt there are many people who could say they can’t relate. As a reward for putting herself out there with Connor, she’s met with unfair expectations from him about who she’s supposed to be, and asked to be okay when he constantly holds her to a higher standard than he holds himself. She isn’t perfect, none of them are, but The Threesome touches upon big moral questions and emotional situations, only to let them pᴀss by without digging in.

The Threesome attempts some self-awareness when it comes to Connor’s unlikability, but the big betrayal that changes the way he sees Olivia isn’t really her fault. Like most everything in The Threesome, it’s a matter of timing and circumstance, making the characters victims instead of active participants in their own stories. However, The Threesome is ultimately a character-driven story, as the pregnancy plot and its pitfalls can only take us so far after the initial reveal, which the audience knows is coming. From there, it’s up to the relationships to take us over the finish line, and The Threesome doesn’t quite get there.

The Threesome Poses Big Questions, But Is Afraid To Answer Them

The Most Interesting Moments Pᴀss By Without Much Consideration

Without the comedy, The Threesome would be much harder to watch, but the movie uses it as a crutch to diffuse its tension-packed situations, when it should be leaning into them. The dialogue hitches in some places, especially since Olivia is supposed to be the funniest girl we’ve ever met, but only ever delivers stale one-liners. If not for Deutch’s charm and surprising vulnerability, Olivia would be even more one-note than she already is, and this is a trait each of the characters has in common.

There’s no one right way to write a movie, but it’s clear that with The Threesome, the premise came first, and the characters came much, much later. The situations they find themselves in are difficult, but The Threesome never forces its subjects or the audience to sit with the shame, guilt, and unhappiness that everyone onscreen is feeling for much longer than a moment. The Threesome is propelled by the premise, but by the end of the film, you won’t have learned much.