Slamdance ’26: “Danny Is My Boyfriend” is a Disaster in the Best Way
For many people, cheating in a romantic relationship is the point of no return. It’s a death knell, the end of days for love. For the women in Mechi Lakatos & Lucy Sandler’s Slamdance-screening Danny Is My Boyfriend, cheating is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Isn’t that how the Casablanca quote goes? Lakatos and Sandler wrote, directed, and starred in this bizarre, wholly-improvised comedy of errors made in the pursuit of revenge. What is revenge if not a fumbling odyssey across Los Angeles in the name of female companionship?
Unbeknownst to Lucy (Sandler) and Mechi (Lakatos), their boyfriend, Danny, is two-timing them. They only discover this because Mechi steals a parking spot from Lucy, and in the front seat of Lucy’s car is Paul Wall. No, not Paul Wall the famous rapper and DJ. It’s Paul Wall the three-legged pit bull mix who belongs to Danny. Once Lucy and Mechi realize they’re dating the same guy, they decide to get revenge. The logistics, though, aren’t exactly clear to Lucy, Mechi, or any of the unsuspecting accomplices they enlist along the way.
Courtesy of Danny Is My Boyfriend
Sandler and Lakatos feel like spiritual sisters of the Broad City girls, Abbi and Ilana. Two women not related by blood, but by weirdness. There’s such cohesion to their improvisation that it doesn’t ever seem like they’re treading water, trying desperately to find the goal of each scene. Instead, Danny Is My Boyfriend comes across as extremely self-assured and meticulously plotted, a testament to the chemistry that exists between Sandler, Lakatos, and the oddball cast of supporting characters who flit in and out of their quest.
Courtesy of Danny Is My Boyfriend
Like all comedies, you’re either on the wavelength of Danny Is My Boyfriend or you’re not. Luckily for this reviewer, the dry, awkward jokes of Danny Is My Boyfriend provide hit after hit, one joke rolling into another. Those jokes follow a series of misguided decisions that lead to the greatest gift of all — friendship. Danny Is My Boyfriend is a celebration of how beautiful it is to find someone who understands your silly little quirks. At one point the women chant to each other in the backseat of a private investigator’s van as they try to catch Danny in the act of something they already know he’s doing. “Nothing can break female companionship! It’s profound!”
Perhaps it’s too early into 2026 to call Danny Is My Boyfriend the funniest movie of the year, but so what? Danny Is My Boyfriend is a fantastic ride. It’s the kind of film that’s best experienced with a crowd who appreciates the dry comedy Lakatos and Sandler are so dialed into. Danny Is My Boyfriend is an utter disaster in the best possible way. A trainwreck that’s as fun as it is colossally, catastrophically dramatic, impeccably realized by Sandler and Lakatos.
Catch Danny Is My Boyfriend at Slamdance! Visit the Slamdance website for tickets and screening information.
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