A new musical starring Anna Kendrick will certainly get some bodies in the theater, but don’t expect anything like Pitch Perfect. The Last Five Years can be funny at times, for sure, but it mostly succeeds when the characters are at odds with one another.

Based on Jason Robert Brown’s musical of the same name, director Richard LaGravenese doesn’t shy away from using the songs as a mechanism to tell this story that shows both the exaltation of finding love and the heartache when it fades. In fact, save but a few lines of actual dialogue, the whole thing is sung. Kendrick is better here as Cathy than anything else I’ve seen her in (not a big Kendrick fan), and newcomer Jeremy Jordan has flashes of brilliance as Jamie.

The film doesn’t come out in theaters until next Valentine’s Day, but you can catch it at the Chicago International Film Festival on October 15th at 6:00pm. Buy tickets in advance here.