“Here’s to picking up the conversation where we left off — and here’s to reconnecting the gang of three we used to be,” says Meryl Steep in “Let Them All Talk.” Filmed over two weeks aboard the Queen Mary 2, the HBO Max comedy tells the story of a celebrated author facing a looming deadline for her manuscript. Alice’s (Meryl Streep) plan to reunite with two old college friends, Roberta (Candice Bergen) and Susan (Dianne Wiest), aboard a cruise ship seems like it has less to do with reconnecting and healing old wounds than mining them for last-minute inspiration en route to an event where she’s receiving a prestigious honor.

For years, Alice has been hinting that she’s revisiting one of her characters. Alice’s most successful, beloved book centered on a character based on Roberta, who feels betrayed rather than flattered by serving as her friend’s inspiration. “The consequences on my life of her actions were unacceptable,” she tells Susan.

Much of “Let Them All Talk” was improvised, and it shows — in a good way. The trio’s decades-long friendship, and all its lingering animosities, feel so real. You’re never quite sure where their conversations are going to go, and whether a minor disagreement could escalate into to an all-out screaming match.

Alice has become humorless and prone to arrogant speechifying, and while Roberta and Susan both find her superiority complex increasingly insufferable, it’s Roberta who seems to be choking down visceral hated for her former confidant.

It’s a joy to see Streep, Bergen, and Wiest onscreen together, and the film’s leisurely pace and rather loose plot never left me feeling frustrated. Watching this trio say and do pretty much anything is worthwhile and their chemistry alone more than justifies “Let Them All Talk’s” nearly two-hour runtime.

Written by Deborah Eisenberg, “Let Them All Talk” is now streaming on HBO Max. “Crazy Rich Asians'” Gemma Chan co-stars as Alice’s new literary agent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Q6DHWEii8eo&feature=emb_title