Splitsville

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Angelo Covino directs. Adam Newport-Berra behind the camera. David Wingo scores. Sara Shaw cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Earned back only 17% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 2Released last year.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
• 4Directed by Michael Angelo Covino, shot by Adam Newport-Berra. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by David Wingo. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Sara Shaw shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona and Kyle Marvin carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "An unromantic comedy.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt33247023 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 13 themes, including "fish", "pottery", "fraud", "birthday party".

The technical file

Cinematography

Adam Newport-Berra

Original score

David Wingo

Editing

Sara Shaw

Production design

Stephen Phelps

Costume design

Callan Stokes

Makeup / hair

Joan Patricia Parris

VFX supervisor

Caine Dickinson

Sound

Sylvain Bellemare

Stunt coordinator

Tyler Hall

Runtime

105 min · 1h 45m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$20,000,000

Box office

$3,487,610

Return

17% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Splitsville (2025) ↗

Also by

Michael Angelo Covino

• 
  The Self Tape

  2024 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Climb

  2018 · ★ 6.4
• 
  The Climb

  2020 · ★ 6.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Official Clip - The Mentalist

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Clip - I Chose You

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Clip - We Are Not Monogamous

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  A Romantic Break-Up Comedy - Splitsville Q&A

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  How Well Do Michael Angelo Covino & Kyle Marvin Know Dakota Johnson?

  Featurette · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Clip - Goldfish

  Clip · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2026-04-01
  ★ 6/10

  Though it does have it’s moments, I thought this quite a predicable cycle of contrived romantic dysfunction that really did run out of steam. It starts when the ostensibly happily wed “Ashley” (Adria Arjuna) and husband “Carey” (Kyle Marvin) have a near miss on the road as they are driving to a weekend at their friend’s beach-house. That’s when she declares that she wants a divorce. He abandons the car and embarks on a one-man safari to get to the home of “Julie” (Dakota Johnson), “Paul” (auteur Michael Angelo Covina) and their young son “Russ” (Simon Webster) who have already been briefed on this sudden revelation. It’s not the only one that “Carey” is going to get this night as they reveal that they have an open relationship and that she thinks he regularly meets women for sex in the city where he works as a property developer. What happens next? Well lines get crossed; relationships (and tables) get tested; sexual fluidity becomes the order of the day; Range Rovers get repossessed and all of these characters have to decide just what they really want from life, and what love truly means to each of them. In some ways it reminded me a little of “The Roses” (2025) but otherwise it was little better than an episode of “Sex in the City” only without any subtlety to the humour nor likeableness of any of the four whose selfish and often quite thoughtless introspection robbed the thing of any sense of humanity. It does poke some fun at generations of folks in constant need of therapy or meaning and it also does rather expose our often double-standard approach to sex, but too much of this is padding.

  Read full review ↓
• The Fixate & Binge Podcast, w/ Joe Curdy2026-07-29
  ★ 5/10

  Co-writers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin star in SPLITTSVILLE (with Covino helming directing duties) and I'm still torn on how to rate this uneven film. This truly is a tale of two films that fail to form any meaningful or memorable cohesion. But in their bifurcated states, both function quite well as a comedy and a drama -- well enough to wish that Covino and Marvin had just picked one lane instead of two. And that ultimately is the real problem I had with SPLITTSVILLE as the film's transitions from its comedic elements into more dramatic themes feel forced and never effectively mix for me. So perhaps the best way to write this review is to first judge it on its comedic elements -- and on that front there is much to praise. Covino and Marvin's comic chemistry soars and when they both lean into the craziness, it achieves STEPBROTHERS levels of insanity. However, because the comedy is so bonkers -- it directly undermines any chance of the film striking meaningful dramatic notes with its characters. And therein lies the main issue: because as a comedy, this is commendable work, but the danger is after applying too many comedic elements can make it impossible for audiences to take any dramatic elements in the film seriously and that's a disservice to the other characters, especially Dakota Johnson's Julie. With an open-marriage subplot that predictably goes off the rails, I wish SPLITTSVILLE had simply leaned in more to the comedic themes instead of trying to have it both ways as a drama, too. Adria Arjona co-stars.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  NEON

  US

• 

  Topic Studios

  US

• 

  Watch This Ready

  US

• 

  TeaTime Pictures

  US

• 

  FirstGen Content

  US

Key crew

• ProducerMichael Angelo Covino
• ProducerDakota Johnson
• ProducerEmily Korteweg
• ProducerKyle Marvin
• Executive ProducerAdria Arjona
• ProducerRo Donnelly
• ProducerSamantha Racanelli
• Executive ProducerPaul Barbeau
• Production DesignStephen Phelps
• Costume DesignCallan Stokes
• Sound MixerSimon Poudrette
• ProducerJeff Deutchman
• Executive ProducerTom Quinn
• Executive ProducerEmily Thomas
• Executive ProducerAdam Paulsen
• Executive ProducerKen Kao
• Executive ProducerJosh Rosenbaum
• Executive ProducerIan M. Stratford
• Co-Executive ProducerRandal Sandler
• Co-Executive ProducerClaude Amadeo
• Executive ProducerJennifer Westin
• ProducerRyan Heller
• EditorSara Shaw
• Executive ProducerMichael Bloom

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• fish
• pottery
• fraud
• birthday party
• open relationship
• car accident
• break-up
• divorce
• admiring
• approving
• baffled
• brisk
• celebratory

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)2025-08-22R· New York City, New York / Los Angeles, California
• Theatrical (limited)2025-08-29R· Limited Expansion
• Theatrical2025-09-05R
• Digital2025-09-23R

Also known as

International titles

• Amores CompartidosMX
• Avatud abieluEE
• Libre échangeFR
• Páratlan párosokHU
• SkomplikowaniPL
• НескромныеRU
• طلاقستانIR
• Splitsville: Una comedia poco románticaES