- Sensibility: Some interactions with parents and friends are a bit melodramatic or eccentric, but on the whole the film is fairly reasonable.
- Cinematography: A few moments of curious editing, like an interplay of a birthday party and a school event and some edits that make the flow of time in the narrative hard to comprehend take away from what is, on the whole, a very solid film. Great free-hand camera work gives the film a sense of realism. Solid lighting, costuming, and production design all capture the nature of the relationship and the characters excellently.
- Energy: Excellent pacing is created by a rock solid narrative with brilliant dialogue and interesting character progression conveyed through top-tier performances, particularly from Will Arnet and Laura Dern.
- Narrative: The film flexes real writing prowess fron the chaotic and cruel nature of relationship arguments to brilliant stand up comedy. A few issues with some of the side characters and some moments with the children stand out as rare weakness in
an overall wonderfully well-written film.
- T-Points: The film received three bonus points: one for an opening stand-up sequence, one for a great conversation between two guys in a backyard after a party, and one for a great bit of writing around an old photo.
I came into this expecting a rom-com, but was greeted by a wonderfully gritty drama with a brilliant sense of humor. It's rare a film can pull off so many different tones so well.
Number of Watches: 1
