Tribeca 2025 Review: A TREE FELL IN THE WOODS, Both Love and Truth Hurt in Debut Dramedy About a Holiday Gone Wrong

Two married couples gather in a cabin in the woods on the day before New Year’s Eve. The four people are tied together through the decades of friendship between Debs (Alexandra Daddario), a writer suffering from the second book block, and Mitch (Josh Gad), a businessman who dreams of doing his own thing but doesn’t dare. Debs is married to Josh (Daveed Diggs), a wildlife photographer full of jokes and cool stories, and Mitch is married to Melanie (Ashley Park), an author of culinary books, whom everyone seems to think is not all that right for her husband.

On the next morning, Debs and Mitch go hiking in the woods, where they almost fall victim to the titular tree that does indeed fall in their general vicinity. As the pair heads back to the cabin earlier than expected — which is never a good sign in the films featuring several couples — they witness their respective spouses cheating on them. After some initial quarreling about whether to confront them, the cat is soon out of the bag, setting up a long night of heartbreaking talks and confessions, spurred by a mysterious drink that might have some sort of truth serum properties.

First things first. After all of the horrible, torturous, painful stuff that happened to various human beings on screen when they decided to vacation at a cabin in the woods, how the hell are there still people willing to choose this form of holidaying? Literally nothing good ever comes out of such a choice. A Tree Fell in the Woods, a debut feature by Nora Kirkpatrick, whose previous filmography includes television works and shorts, seems to suggest that sometimes a painful experience can be transformative and almost transcendent, paving the way for revealing some hard truths about yourself. Getting another crucial thing out of the way — that just doesn’t ring entirely true.

Kirkpatrick, who not only directed but also wrote the screenplay, has a keen eye for the complexity and, at times, absurdity of interpersonal relationships, as well as the general anxieties and nervous energy that course through contemporary society. Choosing not to make A Tree Fell in the Woods an outright drama, introducing a more lighthearted tone and humor from the start, works well for the story. It also propels the authors to come up with some genuinely funny mise-en-scenes, like when the foursome all lock themselves in different rooms.

At the same time, there are only so many narrative and aesthetic opportunities with a story like this when it’s limited to a confined space (there is, of course, a storm that prevents anyone from leaving), so the authors have to introduce something that will at least allow for more creative visuals. Enter Kevin Pollock, who plays Gary, the owner of said space, and a bottle of mysterious spirit that has vaguely hallucinogenic properties. The problem is that even though it does allow for some entertaining images, like Josh Gad dancing with a lamp in his underwear, mostly the truth-revealing device looks like an easy solution to a much more complex pool of issues.

The simplifying also leads to a certain emotional imbalance when it comes to characters and performances. Daddario and Gad simply had meatier roles, allowing them both to come undone and be unhinged. While Gad leans into dark campiness, Daddario is hurtful wrath personified, which, given some outings in her previous filmography, comes off as especially raw and genuine. Neither Park nor Diggs is allowed anything as interesting to work with. It's great that the authors are obviously sympathetic to all four main characters and don’t demonize anyone here. That said, the general spiritual trajectory that seems to say that shit happens, mistakes cab be made, and not liking yourself is a viable reason for cheating, comes off akin to the uplifting pep talks Debs and Mitch like so much – pleasant, but not necessarily connected to reality.