Take This Waltz is a film that had been on my radar for a while. Acclaim for Michelle Williams’ performance was what caught my attention. Since I love Williams and her work, I was totally game for seeing this film. Although Take This Waltz is full of great performances and begins with a promising start, the story ends up feeling overlong and disappointing.

Take This Waltz follows Margot (Michelle Williams), a late-20-something writer, living with her loving husband, Lou (Seth Rogen). While on a short trip, Margot meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), an artist, and the two feel an instant connection with each other. However, Margot is “happily” married, which she clearly states when they depart each other. Yet, a couple minutes later, she learns that Daniel lives across the street. Confused by her feelings and curiosity about Daniel and her love for husband, Margot tries to figure what she should do.

Margot is a bit of an odd character. There is restlessness about her. She doesn’t react or process situations like many others do. At the beginning of the film, I found that to be a rather interesting thing about her. As the movie progressed though, I understood her less and less. To me, it was so clear what she should or shouldn’t do, and that made the last half of the film so frustrating to watch. The audience is really pulled into Margot’s back and forth decision-making. It takes a toll on the audience after a while. In addition, there are just some odd moments in the film where I was thinking “Is this necessary?” or “Am I really watching this?” Those scenes seemed to come right after some of the film’s best moments, unfortunately.

Despite my feelings on her character, Williams did deliver a great performance. She nailed all of her character’s nuances and reactions. And surprisingly, Seth Rogen turned in a good performance too. He was on point as the sweet husband. Kirby was also good as Daniel. He definitely gave the character this alluring, yet creepy, vibe. Sarah Silverman plays Margot’s recovering alcoholic sister-in-law. From someone who isn’t a fan of Silverman, I was impressed by her performance as well.

There are several things that work in Take This Waltz. Those are moments that include a hilarious water aerobics scene and the funny and morbid playfulness between Margot and Lou. Unfortunately, there were many more elements that didn’t work for me. It’s really a weird little film, with great performances. It’s also not for everyone, which was made clear by the amount of people that walked out during the movie. It’s safe to conclude that it wasn’t exactly for me either. While I don’t hate the film, I, for sure, can’t say that I like it either.

Rating: 3/10 ★★★

Take This Waltz is now playing in select theaters. It’s also available to rent digitally on Amazon and iTunes.