A millennial couple in a long-term relationship break up amid a nuclear missile crisis in LA.

Written by Chris Lee Hill (Tragedy Girls) and directed by Tom Morris (Oliver, Stoned.), their new indie feature, Blowing Up Right Now is a cute and quirky millennial’s guide to the end of the world, one where I can’t exactly tell if it is meant to be quite so hipster-y or if it is just poking fun. Take shelter and duck for cover either way, because Blowing Up Right Now is incoming with character self-reflection, ballistic missiles, and some eerily possible-in-real-life narrative content.

Proverbial millennial couple Shep (Danny Jolles) and Mandy (Sujata Day) live a quiet life of constantly being on their phones and working on their individual careers. Unbeknownst to easy going Shep, ambitious Mandy has grown frustrated and antsy to end their long-term relationship, reasoning that they want different things out of life. When she finally works up the guts to get her feelings off her chest, her plans to fly their cushy coop are interrupted by the blare of an emergency PSA on their cellphones — BALLISTIC MISSILE INBOUND…THIS IS NOT A DRILL. With neighbors running around and all of Los Angeles trying to exit en masse, the odd couple decides to batten down the hatches and wait for the end of the world together — for old time’s sake. As a sign of true love, the duo, coming up on their 5th year anniversary, decides to write each other’s obituaries, and they soon realize that they might not even know each other anymore. However, the act of remembering the good things about each other helps them to realize there might just be something left… too bad that the world is apparently about to end in a nuclear holocaust.

Why does it take the end of the world for us to realize what matters to us most? At the heart of this movie, it is a love story filtered through the growing pains of coming into adulthood in the age of technology and instant gratification. The fact that it is set in an impending apocalyptic reality is just a bonus to the narrative’s layer, one that puts them into situations like suicide pacts and last-meal planning. Not scary, not horror, but it does have heart and loads of whimsy, making use of surprise animated sequences for comedic effect and style. AND I do love a movie where a character says the title of the movie at some point — the movie nerd in me waits for it in every movie — and this little indie delivered it.

The only downside about this movie is that it always seems like the movie is about to end… but then it never does. So many potential climaxes kind of made the film feel like a 2-hour ordeal meanwhile it only clocks in at just about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Blowing Up Right Now probably would have been more effective if it was a 20 minute short — pack all of the funny and the arch of their reunion into an amuse bouche (instead of a 3 course meal) because this end of the world romance has been done to pieces, no matter how it’s sliced.

The role of the girlfriend is played by Sujata Day, of whom I am a big fan from her The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl days because of her perfect comedic timing, and also Danny Jolles co-stars as Shep, who I found very affable, real, and relatable in his role of confused boyfriend. Their chemistry and delivery are spot on, had it been other actors the movie could have fallen flat fast. The movie, unfortunately, does not have the balls to go dark on the romantic aspect because the movie ends just how you would expect a romantic comedy to end. The characters are likable, the dialogue is engaging, and though lacking in any defining elements the film quality is good — it’s just all been done before (cue Barenaked Ladies song).

All in all, Blowing Up Right Now is meant to be a dark comedy, but it is not very dark despite the fact that the world is going to end, along with their very long-term relationship. Perhaps it’s more so a grey comedy, occupying some area in the depths of indie-ness where some movies are not categorizable, they just are.