Rashida Jones ‘Bugs Out’ at ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’ Sundance Premiere

Rashida Jones was a little nervous during the premiere of “Celeste and Jesse Forever.” Jones is used to the spotlight thanks to her famous father, Quincy Jones, and her success on “Parks and Recreations,” but “Celeste” was her screenwriting debut.

Rashida watched the premiere with her writing partner, Will McCormack. Jones told USA Today:

“That was like an extra-terrestrial experience. We were just bugging out at the screening…. I felt everything — literally the whole spectrum of feelings. It felt 8½ hours long. It’s not, it’s short. But it was 8½ hours in the way that I was wanting to feel what everybody was feeling and thinking.”

McCormack added:

“We were doing deep breathing exercises.”

Rashida also stars in “Celeste and Jesse Forever” along with Andy Samberg. The two play high school lovers who are now going through a divorce.

Jones said that script was relatively easy to write due to her acting experience. Jones told the Washington Post:

“It also came from, as an actress, reading so many scripts, you kind of intrinsically absorb storytelling script structure into your being without even knowing it, and we wanted to try and tell this story.”

That built-in script writing may not be much of an advantage, however. The Hollywood Reporter writes that “Celeste and Jesse Forever” is a formulaic rom-com. The review was positive overall, but John DeFore writes:

“Borrows tropes from the rom-com playbook, and has enough laughs to be mistaken for one, but ultimately doesn’t want to be pigeonholed.”

Do you want to see Rashida Jones in “Celeste and Jesse Forever?”