The funniest movie of 2026 so far is available to watch now

'It's brimming with sharp one-liners, clever callbacks, brilliantly cringey slapstick situations, and hilariously inventive sight gags.'

The film follows two couples. One is made up of Ashley (Adria Arjona, Hit Man) and Carey (Kyle Marvin, The Climb), who are recently married. The other is made up of Julie (Dakota Johnson, Materialists) and Paul (Michael Angelo Corvino, The Climb), who have been married longer, have a son together and are in an open relationship.

When Ashley abruptly announces to Carey that she wants a divorce, as she wishes to "find herself", he runs to Julie and Paul for emotional support.

Not long after Carey arrives at his friends' home, Paul says he has to go out of town for work, which Julie suspects is a code for seeing another woman. Jealous of her husband, she seduces Carey, and the pair sleep together, an act which winds up throwing all four of the main characters' lives into chaos.

Much has been said about the dearth of Hollywood comedies in recent years. So, when one comes along that is as funny as last year's The Naked Gun reboot or Friendship, you want to shout about it from the rooftops.

In our view, Splitsville is in the same upper echelon of comedy movies as those 2025 highlights. It's brimming with sharp one-liners, clever callbacks, brilliantly cringey slapstick situations, and hilariously inventive sight gags. This is as it taps into very contemporary anxieties and fears about relationships and marriage.

The movie is written by and stars long-time friends Kyle Marvin and Michael Angelo Covino (with the latter also on directing duties). This chemistry shows in the end product.

The duo just have a really well-honed comedic dynamic. Covino is the more assertive, buttoned-up alpha, Paul, while Marvin is the sweeter, more emotional, Carey. Even though they are so different, you instantly buy the characters as friends, perhaps because they are each incredibly neurotic and silly, even if that side of them manifests in different ways.

Arjona's passionate and sensual Ashley and Dakota Johnson's dry and deadpan Julie play beautifully into this dynamic, sometimes as allies, other times as foils. In fact, a lot of the pleasure of Splitsville is that you can never really tell where it is going.

The screenplay is full of surprises, often taking big time jumps while ping-ponging with fizzy energy between each of its four characters' perspectives. Just to give two early examples, the viewer knows that when Ashley asks Carey for a divorce, admitting to him that she has been unfaithful ("Just one time? Two? Please don't make me count... Three!" he replies), he is not going to take it well.

You don't expect him to later suggest back to Ashley that instead of divorcing, they should pivot to an open relationship, enabling him to stay in their shared apartment and her to date multiple men and women. You also don't expect him to form deep connections with Ashley's subsequent boyfriends and girlfriends, who all start a movie night together ("Lorenzo's Oil this week, Doctor Zhivago next week") and help each other with job resumes.

Similarly, the viewer knows that when Carey admits to Paul that he slept with his wife Julie, Paul is not going to take it well. You don't expect the scene to erupt into an incredibly well-choreographed, extended, bruising fight scene, in which no coffee table, fish tank or window pane is safe from destruction. Honestly, it wouldn't be out of place in this week's other new cinematic offering, the action-packed They Will Kill You.

Splitsville is funny right up until its cut to credits. If anything, the movie's opening set-piece involving a car crash feels like the only bum note, as it's a much darker, bleaker gag than anything to come, even if it does train the viewer to expect the unexpected.

Admirably, the film never strains to provide the audience with a preachy, didactic message. Yet, it does become clear in how the story plays out that Covino and Marvin are not poking fun at the idea of open marriages. What they find funny is how couples can truly love each other and build a life together while still struggling to communicate their inner feelings and desires. It's this that makes Splitsville, not just a comedy that makes you laugh, but one that makes you think, too.

Splitsville is in cinemas now.