An acclaimed writer, his ex-wife, and their teenaged children come to terms with the complexities of love in all its forms over the course of one tumultuous year.
It’s no masterpiece, but this is a promising debut from Boone and a good showcase for his entire cast.
Predictable reversals and overwrought melodrama duly ensue as these supposed chroniclers of the human condition spend an age getting to grips with personal dilemmas a child could figure out.
The sharp edges of the story are sentimentally sanded down; there's a fair bit of slush, and it's a pretty quaint view of what writers and a writer's life are actually like.
[Director Josh Boone's] cast go some way to saving his film.
This is tedious fare. Best avoided.
While the film is likeable and the cast are very sympathetic it all feels a little too neat and bloodless.
The film has its sharp moments but is invariably glib when it comes to literary matters and the relationship between books and life.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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