Here’s a film by a director Nicole Holofcener whose work I haven’t really seen before. It’s the kind of film that I’m not inclined to like, being set in New York in which nearly every character is a creative artist of some stripe and are each obsessed with their personal foibles. Fortunately this is a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and the characters themselves are well aware that their problems are insignificant in the greater scheme of things. This is no psychological deep dive but it’s clever, occasionally funny and that’s good enough.

Beth is a writer who has published a memoir and is looking forward to getting her first novel published. Her husband Don is a therapist who is worried about aging and feeling disengaged from his patients. After her agent rejects her novel, Don encourages her to send the manuscript to another agent. The couple have a good relationship with Beth’s sister, Sarah, and her actor husband Mark. One day Don is out shopping with Mark when Beth and Sarah sneak up on them. She overhears Don confessing that he doesn’t like her new novel at all and is distraught as she has been relying on his opinions of her drafts as she worked on it. Feeling that she is no longer able to trust Don, she distances herself from him without explaining why. Sarah tries to reassure Beth that even she lies to Mark sometimes about his acting performances but that doesn’t help. Meanwhile the others around them have minor problems of their own. Their son Elliot breaks up with his girlfriend and struggles to finish his own screenplay. Mark is fired from an acting job and Sarah is discouraged by a picky client.

I’ve expressed skepticism before about stories like this, featuring self-absorbed, mostly affluent New Yorkers and their psychological hangups. That Don has to deal with the problems of so many other people as well highlights even more how reliant Americans have become on therapists. I give this one a pass however as there is a tongue-in-cheek tone running throughout it. Everyone else can see that the person’s problems are minor even if that person in question feels overwhelmed by it. Mark immediately wants to quit acting after being fired while Sarah tries her best to be supportive and tells him to do what really makes him happy. Yet Sarah herself finds herself questioning the meaning of her own work when a client keeps rejecting the light fixtures she offers only to accept one that looks awful. It ends up being an amusing reminder that we are each the center of our own worlds. At the same time, Holofcener treats her characters kindly so that when it matters, they are still family. They rally around and support one another. She doesn’t overdramatize their issues and as time passes, shows how a better understanding of each other only strengthens their relationships.

It’s probably not worth overthinking a film as light as this. I’m shocked that two years of therapy sessions cost US$33,000 but it seems to be normal and of course there’s no question of Don refunding the unhappy couple their money. I’m also a little disappointed that the story of Beth and Sarah’s mother doesn’t really go anywhere other than to show that, yes, even she tells little white lies all the time. All in all, this is an entertaining film that serves as a good palate cleanser. The little antics like Beth being petty about the placement of her book serves as a good example of what this film is all about. It’s a totally pointless gesture that only makes the bookstore workers laugh at her. But damn it, it’s hers and no one is taking it away from her.