Review: In 'The Sun Never Sets,' dating in Alaska is messy but the views are gorgeous

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Set us as preferred Few directors make romantic comedies about exes, but they should.It’s just as relatable to see why two people decide to call it quits because of luck, timing and temperament as it is watching them happily pair off.

Joe Swanberg’s “The Sun Never Sets” is a reminder that discarded partners also have movie-worthy drama — too much of it for the couple, perhaps, but plenty for our amusement.Indie auteur Swanberg (“Hannah Takes the Stairs,” “Drinking Buddies”) specializes in naturalistic dramedies about people lost in the liminal stage between adolescence and adulthood.We used to call that our 20s but some people get stuck there for decades.

Some never leave.Here, his heroine is Wendy (Dakota Fanning), an outdoorsy 31-year-old construction worker in Anchorage, Alaska, who is the last of her female friends to build a domesticated home life.Instead, she’s squatting in one, semi-committing to an older divorced dad, Jack (Jake Johnson), whose children are young enough that Wendy doesn’t sleep over most nights.

At the dinner table, Wendy looks and acts more like one of the kids than their potential stepmother, especially when she makes Jack promise to make pancakes in the morning.Movies Starring Dakota Fanning, Cory Michael Smith and Jake Johnson, “The Sun Never Sets” explores the complications of middle-aged romance.Wendy and Jack could play house like this for years.

But with the wisdom of a man who’s already experienced marriage and parenthood and refuses to do either again, Jack insists that she embark on a six-month sexual rumspringa to see if she can find a better mate — perhaps a younger guy who wants babies or a fellow nature-lover who also likes to camp.Shot on location, Eon Mora’s cinematography swoons every time it takes in ice-blue lakes as the soundtrack cues a stream o...