My experience with Joe Swanberg has been pretty hit or miss. 2013’s Drinking Buddies really worked for me, though, and because I appreciate his craft across the board (his acting, writing, and directing) he’s someone I’m always willing to give the benefit of the doubt to. I tend to lightly circle his movies when they come around.

The Sun Never Sets immediately intrigued me because of its premise, but even more so because of its two leads: Dakota Fanning and Swanberg’s frequent collaborator, Jake Johnson. I’ll admit that I don’t always connect with Johnson’s performances, and part of my interest in this movie was seeing if it could finally get me on his wavelength. Fanning, meanwhile, is an obviously talented actor who doesn’t always get the roles or the scripts that play to her strengths. Thankfully, Swanberg gives both of them plenty to work with. The Sun Never Sets not only allows Johnson and Fanning to play to their individual strengths as actors, but also recognizes how effective they can be as scene partners.

Any shortcomings the movie has are pretty easy for me to forgive because of how good those two are, particularly when they’re sharing the screen. The premise itself is compelling. Johnson plays Jack, who has been dating Fanning’s Wendy for two years. Jack has children from a previous marriage, while Wendy is younger and at a point in her life where she wants to get married and have kids. Jack, having already gone through that stage of his life, doesn’t want to do it again.

So Jack proposes that they take a couple of months apart, giving Wendy the opportunity to figure out whether a life without him might ultimately be better for her. He knows he can’t give her the marriage and children she wants, and rather than ask her to compromise those things for him, he thinks some time apart might give her the clarity she needs. Of course, this doesn’t exactly go according to plan. Wendy reconnects with a former flame, and what was supposed to be a temporary break quickly turns into something much messier.

Where I struggled with the script a little was with how childish both of these characters can be. The back-and-forth bickering is believable and often feels like the kind of arguments you’d actually see in a relationship, but there were times when I felt like the things they were arguing about belonged to a couple 10 or 15 years younger than them. There’s clearly some intentionality to this. Swanberg wants both Jack and Wendy to be immature in their own ways, and while that occasionally tested my patience, he did enough with both characters to keep them from becoming entirely insufferable.

There are easy ways to see yourself in both of them. Even when Jack and Wendy are being ridiculous, it’s usually easy to understand where they’re coming from. Neither one is completely right or completely wrong, and Swanberg does a nice job of giving both sides of this relationship enough emotional weight so that you can understand why they’re struggling.

That said, Swanberg clearly wants us to mostly be on Wendy’s side. At the end of the day, this is her story of self-discovery. We want her to figure out what she actually wants for herself rather than simply having two men tell her what they think is best for her. The movie establishes that framework really well without turning either man in this love triangle into a true villain. They both have shortcomings, but they’re shortcomings that feel realistic and, for the most part, forgivable.

A few other things stood out to me. The movie takes place in Alaska, and Swanberg and cinematographer Eon Mora make the most of the location. A lot of this movie is simply beautiful to look at. The landscapes are obviously a major part of that, but even the indoor conversations have a warmth and texture to them because the movie was shot on 35mm film. There’s a subtle graininess to the image, but it’s also incredibly crisp, which gives the whole movie a tactile quality that helps transport you into the world of these characters.

As a cohesive piece, The Sun Never Sets works as a full-circle exercise in examining a very realistic relationship while also functioning as a story about self-discovery. Where it does stumble a little bit is on the third side of its love triangle. Corey Michael Smith’s Chuck feels more like a nuisance to the story than a fully fleshed-out character. The type of person Chuck is supposed to be is easy enough to buy into, but I wish there was more meat on the character beyond his role in complicating Wendy and Jack’s relationship.

I also think Swanberg gets a little too comfortable with the cyclical nature of these characters’ relationship. It makes sense that the same arguments and discussions would keep resurfacing, relationships can absolutely be that repetitive, but watching those cycles play out over and over can get a little tiresome. The realism of the approach is admirable, but realism doesn’t always make for the most compelling viewing.

Still, The Sun Never Sets is a nice little film with great performances and some really good comedic sensibilities. More importantly, it accomplished something I wasn’t necessarily expecting it to: I went into this movie mildly intrigued by Swanberg, and I came out genuinely looking forward to whatever he does next.

And I think this is easily Jake Johnson’s best performance. He finally got me on his wavelength.

7.5/10

Movie: The Sun Never Sets (2026)
Production Companies: The Alaska Project
Distributed by: Independent Film Company
Producer(s): Joe Swanberg, Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson, Corey Michael Smith, Ashleigh Snead
Directed by: Joe Swanberg
Written by: Joe Swanberg
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson, Corey Michael Smith, Debby Ryan
Review by: Stefano Todaro