Deborah Ross

You’re not going to get a better spin on bromance – brobably: The Climb reviewed

Striking, inventive and the comedy is often sublime

Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino as Kyle and Mike in the audacious opening scene of The Climb. 
issue 24 October 2020

The Climb is, essentially, a bickering bromance as two longtime pals bicker bromantically down the years, and it doesn’t sound like a film you’d especially wish to see and it didn’t sound like a film I’d especially wish to see. Bromances are bad enough, so God save us from a bickering one. But it’s actually quite the marvel: original, sometimes absurdist, touching, funny, and it also takes male friendship seriously, which is a novelty. So you do wish to see it. You just didn’t know till now.

It was written by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, directed by Covino, produced by Covino and Marvin (among others) and stars Covino and Marvin who play characters called Mike and Kyle. You could never say the two, who initially met while working in advertising, aren’t all over this project. The film opens audaciously with a single take of several minutes as Mike and Kyle are on a bike trip and cycling uphill when Mike tells Kyle he’s slept with the woman Kyle is due to marry.

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