Sometimes you just want a movie that hits all the right peaks and stings us in all the right ways. I suppose to some extent it may feel a little bit like “color-by-numbers” but we don't always want to be shocked or revved up. Especially on a day when the temps were closing in on the upper nineties, in northern New England of all places!
Here's the closing paragraph of the New York Times review:
With its oversimplified emotions and dumbed-down depiction of the creative process, this inoffensive time-filler dissolves in the mouth like vanilla pudding. The songs (written by Keegan DeWitt and performed by the two stars) are pleasant, the drama is low-risk and the aesthetics are as laid-back and unforced as the performances. Frank might be a bit of a bully, but Mr. Offerman gives him a clumsy charm that softens his cluelessly selfish behavior, and Toni Colette and Ted Danson provide solid backup as, respectively, Frank’s friendly landlady and a perpetually high bar owner. There’s not a rough edge in sight — and, for many viewers, that will be just fine.
Focus on the last line, if you please. I was in the mood for simple, and that's what I got. But hey. It was cute and satisfying.
Thumbs up for a mixed-race family where race is a ho-hum detail, causing angst for seemingly no one. Awesome. Thumbs-up for a lesbian character whose sexuality is a ho-hum detail in the film and in her on-screen family. Thumbs-up for a modern sensibility that my teenagers “got” and enjoyed. Thumbs-up for a Brooklyn neighborhood that left me longing for the city.
I sometimes wonder why film and television seem so slow to portray life as it is really experienced by the younger generation today. I suppose the filmmakers are all old? This film does a good job. It was a Sundance pick back in January, so I guess maybe we should look at Sundance for fresh stuff.
Here's the trailer:
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