When Andy Goodrich’s wife, Naomi , tells him that she’s checked herself into rehab and plans to leave him, few people are surprised. Everyone knew the mother of his two elementary school-aged children reached for pills at night to lull her to sleep and indulged in extra glasses of wine., speaks more to his own distracted state.
An over-reliance on montages, shot by cinematographer Jamie Ramsay and tidily constructed against bits of Christopher Willis’s evocative score, disrupts the pace of the film. Some, like one in which Andy attends a feminist art showcase in hopes of wooing a new client, are funny. But others, like when Andy runs into his ex-wife, fit oddly within the narrative frame.
As the Andy raises his twins, his failures as a father to Grace come into view. He was never present for his oldest child’s upbringing in the same way, and even now, when she’s pregnant with her first child, manages to disappoint her.finds its heart in the relationship between dad and daughter, as they exhume past hurts and create new memories. Kunis holds her own alongside Keaton and the duo possess a natural, pleasant onscreen chemistry.