Rating: 3.5/5
Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is an author struggling with her first fiction novel. Her husband, Don (Tobias Menzies), is a therapist who feels like he’s not as present in his work anymore. When Beth overhears Don talking about how much he secretly doesn’t like her new book, their relationship goes through it as they try to discover the fine line between support and honesty
The first act is very slight and polite, and it takes the first major conflict to occur to realize that it is intentional — these are people who are too afraid to say their true feelings
Dreyfus is the most gentle and unassuming I’ve ever seen her — compared to Seinfeld and Veep, that’s not saying much
The script is smart up until an unnecessary “one year later” that tries to put bows on things that didn’t need them — and even things that I didn’t realize were part of the story at all
But overall, I liked the movie and think it is mostly successful. Not a laugh-out-loud riot, but a humor that becomes more relevant as I get older