Touchy Feely

Queen of mumblecore director Lynn Shelton serves up another loose film about overly sensitive middle-class white people who have so much trouble with verbal communication it's a wonder they're able to function in the world. Ellen Page is wasted here as Jenny, a dental assistant who impotently dreams of leaving her sheltered life—living with and working for her walking-dead droid of a dentist dad, Paul (Josh Pais). But the title here actually seems to refer to Paul's sister, Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), a massage therapist who's having some sort of breakdown that manifests as an aversion to physical contact. Set in Oregon (think: Portlandia), Touchy Feely is ostensibly a comedy, although being a mumblecore film it's also one in which quirky autistic-like human behavior, social unease, and general awkwardness pass for humor, and misunderstandings between characters result from their chronic inability to express themselves except in awkward fits and starts. Shelton tries her best to move the odd relationships between these delicate-as-porcelain characters in meaningful directions, but winds up more in the neighborhood of unsatisfactory ambiguity. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by writer-director Lynn Shelton and costars Rosemarie DeWitt and Josh Pais, interviews with Shelton, Pais, and costars Allison Janney and Scoot McNairy (32 min. total), deleted scenes (7 min.), outtakes (4 min.), an ASX TV production featurette (3 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an unremarkable film.] (M. Sandlin)