Lisa Johnson Mandell’s I Really Love My Husband review says it’s a beautifully uncomfortable reminder that the heart wants what it wants, even when what it wants makes absolutely no logical sense.

Imagine you’re trapped on a gorgeous island with someone who’s theoretically perfect for you, but every fiber of your being is screaming “Nope!” louder than a smoke detector with dying batteries. Welcome to G.G. Hawkins’ feature debut I Really Love My Husband, a film that takes the romantic comedy playbook, sets it on fire, and uses the ashes to write something infinitely more honest and uncomfortable.

I need to be real about Teresa (Madison Lanesey) from the jump – she’s about as likable as a wet sock, and that’s precisely the point. Lanesey doesn’t just embrace Teresa’s unlikability; she bear-hugs it while maintaining awkward eye contact with the audience. It’s a gutsy performance that refuses to apologize for a woman who’s having the audacity to be complicated, messy, and – gasp! – human in her romantic dissatisfaction.

Teresa is that friend we all have who makes not-so-smart life choices and then complains about the consequences, except here we’re sitting shotgun during her emotional breakdown.

Meanwhile, Travis Quentin Young’s Drew exists as some sort of husband-shaped unicorn. He’s so perfect he practically sparkles. Young navigates this thankless role with remarkable skill, making Drew genuinely appealing while hinting at depths beneath all that golden-retriever goodness. His tattoos are cinematic Easter eggs, suggesting there’s more to this pliable Ken doll than meets the eye. It’s a delicate balancing act: how do you make perfection interesting without making it insufferable?

Enter Arta Gee’s Paz, the film’s secret weapon and living embodiment of “what if we all just chilled the hell out?” Gee brings a magnetic presence to the gender fluid character that serves as both catalyst and mirror, reflecting back the couple’s neuroses while offering an alternative way of existing in the world. Their performance is like watching someone who’s figured out the cheat codes to life while everyone else is still fumbling with the instruction manual.

Lisa Jacqueline Starrett’s Kiki appears as a reality-TV refugee-turned-Greek chorus, serving up the kind of unfiltered commentary that cuts through the couple’s elaborate emotional performance art. Her brief appearances provide necessary comic relief while functioning as our collective “girl, what are you doing?” moment.

I Really Love My Husband review — brutal questions

Hawkins has crafted something that defies easy categorization; it’s part relationship autopsy, part tropical nightmare, part philosophical meditation on why we torture ourselves in the name of love. The director’s female perspective isn’t just window dressing; it’s fundamental to the film’s DNA, creating space for conversations about romantic ambivalence that mainstream cinema typically treats like toxic waste.

The film’s isolated island setting becomes a pressure cooker where pretenses are stripped away faster than sunscreen in saltwater. Ryan Thomas’s cinematography captures this psychological claustrophobia beautifully, making paradise feel like a gorgeous prison cell. Hollie Buhagiar’s score amplifies every uncomfortable silence and forced smile, creating an audio landscape that perfectly mirrors Teresa’s internal turbulence.

What makes I Really Love My Husband genuinely subversive is its refusal to provide easy answers. This isn’t The Notebook with a twist ending. The film asks brutal questions: What happens when you marry someone because you’re supposed to want them, not because you actually do? Can love be manufactured through proximity and good intentions? And why do we feel guilty for wanting what we want instead of what we should want? All of this is wrapped in pretty bows of humor, so if you’re worried I Really Love My Husband is a downer, don’t.

I Really Love My Husband is essential viewing for anyone who’s ever felt like they were failing at happiness despite checking all the right boxes. It presents a story that understands love isn’t always enough, and sometimes the bravest thing you can do is admit when paradise feels like purgatory.

Not Rated
1 Hour 19 Minutes

Does this I Really Love My Husband review make you want to dive into the big screen? LOOK Cinemas will anchor the theatrical run, with locations in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa, and other major markets. A digital release is expected to follow later this year.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s I Really Love My Husband review says it’s a beautifully uncomfortable reminder that the heart wants what it wants, even when what it wants makes absolutely no logical sense.