Save the Date

Michael Mohan's Save the Date is a conventional—if also reasonably diverting—film that winds up being more of an ensemble drama than a romantic comedy. Sarah (Lizzy Caplan) is an L.A. bookstore manager who likes to draw (which allows Mohan to work in graphic novelist screenwriter Jeffrey Brown's whimsical illustrations). Her boyfriend, Kevin (Geoffrey Arend), wants a lifetime commitment, and while Sarah is hesitant, she agrees to move in with him. The pair often socialize with Sarah's sister, Beth (Alison Brie), and her fiancé, Andrew (Martin Starr), who is Kevin's band mate in Wolfbird. Things seem to be going fine until Kevin proposes to Sarah during a performance, and—to his horror—she declines. This creates an opening for Jonathan (Mark Webber), a marine biology student and frequent bookstore customer, who has been nursing a crush on Sarah, and she starts to hang out with him. When Kevin and Andrew go off on tour, Sarah prepares to show her artwork in a gallery, assists Beth with her wedding plans, and becomes more serious about the new man in her life. A strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)