Fingernails

Teenage magazines in the nineties had questionnaires in which the reader could test how strong the love from their current suitor was. Needless to say these tests weren’t very accurate, which most girls in my school found out when they realised that their interest moved or that being two years older and owning a car aren’t predictors for personality.

In Fingernails, it’s the Love Institute that lets couples test whether they are meant to be together, but only after a series of exercises meant to build affection between couples. These exercises aren’t much different from what you would find in a relationship self-help book; the logical continuation from those tests from teenage magazines.

Jessie Buckley is great, as always. But Fingernails is too long. The message, you’ll find love when you least expect it, becomes clear quickly when you realise where the movie is headed. There’s a very boring slump in the last third, where the story just doesn’t progress.