Adult Beginners

Adult Beginners' plot: After becoming a pariah to just about everyone he's connected with after a failed product launch, self-centred entrepreneur Jake (played by stand-up comic Nick Kroll) returns to his childhood home where his sister, Justine (played by Rose Byrne), and brother-in-law, Danny (played by Bobby Cannavale), live with their three-year-old son. As Jake licks his wounds and contemplates his next step, he comes to appreciate the value of family and the virtue of humility.

Kroll would seem to be an unlikely candidate to play a character who rediscovers their humanity in a comedic film with touchy feely leanings like Adult Beginners, considering the abrasive nature of his stand-up act and his television roles on The League and Kroll Show. His snide personality is intact initially, mind you, but that edge is gradually dulled as Jake is welcomed into his sister's home and takes on the nanny responsibilities for his nephew. The fish-out-of-water scenario rarely yields impactful results, however, be they of the moving or comedic variety, and the movie rarely goes anywhere you're not expecting it to. Kroll acquits himself decently with the limited material, as do Byrne and Cannavale, who are given their own marital issues to wrestle with as a subplot. Peripheral characters played by Jane Krakowski, Josh Charles, Paula Garces, and Joel McHale barely register, although one scene with Saturday Night Live's Bobby Moynihan playing a former classmates of Jake's delivers the movie's best laughs and will ring true for anyone who's had one of those run-ins with someone from your past that you wouldn't even want as a Facebook friend.

Adult Beginners disappoints with its skimpy joke-to-laugh ratio and ability to move the viewer with Jake's transformation, adding up to a slight movie that's unlikely to stay with you for very long.

Jake is not awesome. Jake is also broke and now stuck living on his sister's air mattress in New Jersey in the independent comedy Adult Beginners.

Adult Beginners appears to be judged a bit more harshly, and rather unjustly, due to individual viewers' biases against Nick Kroll. The plot may not be the most original, but the characters are real and identifiable, and as far as indie films go, a well done effort.

Jake, played by Nick Kroll, is an entrepreneur behind the next big tech item. Unfortunately, its production is doomed and he is out his entire investment, his and several others' large venture capital. What does one do when they've failed in Manhattan? Why, go back to your family with your tail between your legs to the suburbs of New Jersey! His sister Justine, played by Rose Byrne, isn't completely pleased but agrees to let him stay for three months and watch her and her husband's (Bobby Cannavale) son.

The plot has been done to death, and that is the only thing working against Adult Beginners as a film. The character types are also far from original, from the narcissistic protagonist to the less than perfect family he is forced to stay with. So, you may ask yourself, why bother watching the movie? Because, Adult Beginners is enjoyable. The drama of the story is not too serious so the film still has an 'escapist' effect. The writing is natural and fluid and the acting realistic and entertaining. The fun is in the medley of recognizable faces that make cameos throughout the film. It seems unfathomable that someone could hate Adult Beginners because it is a perfectly likable film, and is in fact, quite a nice watch and I would do it again.

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Jake (Nick Kroll) screws up a business deal and loses lots of money. His investors are angry. He leaves NYC and goes back to the family home. His sister Justine (Rose Byrne) is pregnant and puts him to work babysitting his nephew Teddy. Her husband Danny (Bobby Cannavale) is fixing up the home for sale. She signs Jake up with Teddy in a swim class for mommy and kid. Jake suspects that Danny is cheating with the real estate agent.

Rose Byrne is utterly charming. Bobby Cannavale is a great suburban dad. Nick Kroll is fine for this role although his big screen charisma is still in doubt. The material feels lighter than it could have been. The drama is not pushed that hard. There is one good moment when Justine downplays something which actually elevates the material. There are a couple of those scenes and the really endearing Byrne which make this better than nice.

The movie starts really slow ,, not much comedy to laugh at ,, but the plot grows gradually until it peaks after the swimming pool "adult beginners" thingy. The screenplay is just okay ,, the writing seems to be getting involved much more with the drama than it is with the comedy ,, not much excitement or unpredictability, you can easily know where things are going in the movie. Honestly, the trailer was kinda misleading with all of these funny bits which seem to reflect the 5% comedy in the movie.

As for the cast, Nick Kroll and Rose Byrne performances was fine they reflected the depressed newly parent pregnant woman and post- failing business guy. For me ,, and as a supposedly comedy movie,, the scenes with Jason Mantzoukas, Bobby Moynihan and Joel McHale had much more comedy and "giggles" than the leads.

Overall,, the movie wen just okay,, for me it deserves no higher than 5 as a rating the IMDb average rating by 1,518 users is 5.5 which seems close enough ;)

Rushed resolution takes away from well-acted intelligently written comedy.