Review: ‘The Unicorn’ finds giggles in sexual misadventures

By Kimber Myers

Jan. 31, 2019 12:40 PM PT

“Is everybody having a threesome except for us?” an exasperated Malory (Lauren Lapkus) asks her long-term fiancé Caleb (co-writer Nicholas Rutherford) early on in this enjoyable comedy. With this frank question, “The Unicorn” isn’t mining any new ground, but the movie does find fresh laughs in how it answers if three’s a crowd in the bedroom.

Inspired by the newly acquired knowledge that her parents (Beverly D’Angelo and John Kapelos) are more sexually adventurous than they are, Malory and Caleb decide they need to shake up their own romance. While on vacation in Palm Springs for her parents’ vow renewal, they trade in their early bedtime for a night at the bars to bring someone — their “unicorn” — back for a threesome, Along the way, they meet a bohemian beauty (Lucy Hale), a seductive strip-club manager (Beck Bennett) and a friendly masseuse (Dree Hemingway) as they try to reignite their spark.

Directed by Robert Schwartzman (“Dreamland”), “The Unicorn” is more silly than sexy, but it also has moments of seriousness with an emphasis on the value of honesty and trust in relationships. Though the premise in the script from Rutherford, Will Elliott and Kirk C. Johnson might seem risqué to some — and it does get a bit raunchy in its dialogue at times — this is a sweet comedy built on awkwardness that gets more delighted giggles than shocked gasps.

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