You're Dating a Narcissist

By Senior Contributor Brendan Kownacki

Photo and Video credit: Brendan Kownacki

Sometimes you meet someone and it’s love at first sight and sometimes the red flags are waving big and bright enough that they could be seen from space. Basically, the plot of the new film, You’re Dating a Narcissist…

The movie, which stopped in Washington DC for a special screening, follows 22-year-old Eva played by breakout star Ciara Bravo who is a young artist, who gets engaged to hunky doctor Theo after just six weeks of dating and this raises all the alarm bells for her psychology professor mother Judy, who is played by Marissa Tomei.

Ciara Bravo

The movie has the type of witty and charming romantic comedy moments you want in a summer flick, but it also is an exploration of the mother-daughter dynamic between Bravo and Tomei. Where is the line between happiness for someone and where does cynicism and protection start to kick in?

The DC event, held at the Angelika Pop-up in Union Market, was a buzzy summer evening with a crowd of locals thrilled to set down politics for a moment of fictional levity.

It wasn’t all fiction though. Writer and Director Ann Marie Allison told Hollywood on the Potomac that the story of the film is based in part on her own experience in realizing that a romantic partner was thinking of himself more than of her. He was a full-blown narcissist.

Ciara Bravo and Ann Marie Allison

Fortunately for audiences, Allison was able to channel her personal drama into something fun and light that people can learn from and enjoy.

Ciara Bravo called the shoot a “memorable” one, saying that the shoot in Malibu was enjoyable and that working with a “powerhouse” veteran actress like Marissa Tomei made the whole film a learning experience.

Allison was praising Bravo though alongside Tomei, saying that “she is the most amazing human” and adding with a smile “I was calling her our next generation Audrey Hepburn.”