If You Were the Last

If You Were the Last’s premise might seem like the makings of a claustrophobic, morbid story, but it’s decidedly not. The film radiates warmth and chemistry, with a lighthearted sense of humor that carries through. 

Adam and Jane’s spaceship looks more like the Big Brother house than anything out of Apollo 13, with plenty of space and resources to make a workable, if limited, life. There’s great fun in watching the creative ways they pass the hours—learning dances, giving each other tattoos, and talking to Benson’s skeleton, their fellow crewmate who didn’t survive the “crazies.” There’s a pop-up book feel to the visuals, with vibrant colors and papier-mâché textures. Their small, colorful, world provides the perfect backdrop for a love story, with the right dose of existential dread to keep things interesting. 

The central pair’s dynamic is a classic rom-com push and pull between Jane’s pragmatism and Adam’s emotionality, with When Harry Met Sally-style crackling banter. Students of the rom-com genre will enjoy the tightly structured story. It hits all the beats that you want from the genre—an unlikely meet cute, a slow burn of chemistry, and a rewarding payoff.

It also basks in a love of cinema, with references to The Martian and Casablanca, and the awareness that this story rests somewhere in between the two. Adam and Jane’s far-out situation becomes oddly relatable, or at least a worthy metaphor for the strange ways we connect as people. It asks the question, without the distractions of the outside world, what does connection mean? And provides a sweet answer in an intergalactic love story, the beautiful swell of space floating behind.