A divorced novelist and his family grapple with issues in Josh Boone's directorial debut. Bill Borgens (Greg Kinnear), who putters around an enviable beach house, pines for his ex-wife, Erica (Jennifer Connelly), while enjoying trysts with a married neighbor (Kristen Bell). It isn't exactly a rough life, but it is a fairly empty one. His 16-year-old son, Rusty (Nat Wolff), a Stephen King fan, divides his time between Bill and Erica (who has since remarried). Aspiring writer Rusty pursues Kate (Liana Liberato), the girl of his dreams, after she compliments one of his poems—even though she has a boyfriend and a drug problem. At Thanksgiving, Rusty's pretentious sister, Sam (Lily Collins), a 19-year-old college student, informs her father and brother that she has just published her first novel, sparking jealousy in Bill, who's suffering from writer's block, and Rusty, who's just getting started, but she leaves her mother out of the picture, since she holds Erica responsible for her parents' split. Sam also does her best to fend off the advances of nice-guy classmate Lou (Logan Lerman), because she prefers no-strings relationships, although she softens once she sees the way he cares for his terminally ill mother. As the characters let down their guards, relationships thrive, along with expected roadblocks. Boone has assembled a fine cast for this occasionally absorbing, if tonally inconsistent film, but all of them have done better work elsewhere. A strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)
Stuck in Love
Millennium, 96 min., R, DVD: $28.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $29.99 Volume 29, Issue 1
Stuck in Love
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