Adult Beginners

This film tells the story of a high flying entrepreneur who lost everything on the night of his company launch. With nothing under his belt, he goes unannounced to his sister's home to stay a few months. The problem is, he and his sister aren't even close. "Adult Beginners" is a fun film. It tells the way Jake slowly reconnects with his sister Justina, who haven't seen each other for a year. In the three months they stay together, they grow closer to each other and even make amends of the troubled past. The topic is dealt with in a light hearted manner so that it's not grim at all, but still provides the emotional roller-coaster amidst the laughters. It highlights the divide between work and family, and makes people reflect on the importance of connecting with your family. It's a nice film to watch.

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 story background seems like another classic of s man rebuilding his life after a sudden loss. The main focus on the family and relationship drama feels really nice. The way the movie's script depicts the many small things happening in Jake's life is really nice that it feels so subtle and smooth. The movie literally didn't have any increase or decrease in mood, and just dominantly play on a single track of story development. The smaller things seem unpredictable, although their consequences seem so very predictable once they have come on-screen. The acting overall is quite a good bit. Rose Byrne's acting still feels okay although the character doesn't really need much more development. Nick Kroll really gets the comedy side nicely, just at the right portion. Bobby Cannavale's acting really balances the whole set.

This movie can be pretty misleading , if you have read the plot and visited the IMDb page before watching the movie you might think its really a comedy , I mean , Just take a look at the cast : Nick Kroll , Joel McHale , Jane Krakowski etc. The truth is that the movie has more solid drama elements that comedy ones , Sure i had a couple of laughs here and there but i would not even include the comedy in the description . Don't get me wrong , the movie is pretty good , the acting and the plot are very well made . In conclusion , I would recommend this movie to watch with the wife or girlfriend , It has a heart warming touch to it somehow.

Honestly, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie! The characters were lovable, and the plot line was close to nil (as in, close to no drama for the sake of drama, WHOO!) Hudson was a hilarious second character, and I enjoyed his devoted support to Jake; hooray for buddies! I will admit that I wasn't as invested in the beginning, but the steady, almost melancholy beat kept me. There was a fine line that they had to walk with one of the plot points, but they handled it well by appealing to our desire to see the good in people. The last, almost epilogue-like leg sort of confused me because it was a bit of an abrupt shift. I must applaud the casting of Teddy because he seemed very natural, although I did catch him looking at the camera once or twice. All in all, it was a movie about family coming and going, and I think that they did it well.

Greetings again from the darkness. It's certainly understandable that the Duplass Brothers ("The League") are working relentlessly to take advantage of their window of creative opportunity. In the vein of their HBO show "Togetherness", this is another com-dram with the theme of thirty-somethings coming to terms with adulthood and responsibility. In their role as Producers for this latest project, Team Duplass has assembled a strong group: director Ross Katz (himself best known as a Producer of In the Bedroom and Lost in Translation), and funny folks Nick Kroll, Rose Byrne, Bobby Cannavale, Joel McHale, Jane Krakowski, Bobby Moynihan, Paula Garces, and Celia Weston. Unfortunately, the script does not rise to the level of the on screen talent, leaving us with a mostly benign story with few laughs and little message. Things kick off with Kroll's character in full crash-and-burn mode when his entrepreneurial offering "Mind's I" implodes just before it is scheduled for rollout. He loses his money, his investors' money, and most any semblance of the fair weather friends one accumulates while living the high life in NYC. Packing up what little dignity he retains, Kroll heads to the suburbs to live with his pregnant sister (Rose Byrne), her husband (Bobby Cannavale) and their 3 year old son Teddy. It's not that the path is obvious, but rather than it's executed so blandly. The zingers and physical humor are mostly lacking, and the film can't seem to decide if it wants us to laugh, or if it would rather prove how tough parenthood and adulthood and responsibility can be. Bobby Moynihan spikes the comedy in a short scene, and Paula Garces may be the most interesting character despite only appearing in a few scenes. The swimming lessons sequences led by Jane Krakowski are mostly vacuous, and are used instead to focus on the insecurities of Kroll and Byrne. As in "Togetherness", the kids seem to be an afterthought … like a lamp … but less than a sconce. The scenes are well paced and the story clicks right along, but overall it plays more like a TV show … albeit one with an abundance of cursing, too few laughs, and no new insight into the tough world that awaits as we step out of childhood (evidently in our mid-30's).

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. Please check out our website for full reviews of all the recent releases.

Some things work but most don't in this indie dramedy. For maybe the first half of the film things seemed to move along fairly well, but especially in the final third of the movie it pretty much falls apart with stilted, non-believable, and even mean-spirited dialogue and scenes that were far from entertaining for me. Nick Kroll stars as Jake, a business entrepreneur ready to launch a new product (technological eyewear), for which he's raised millions of dollars from family, friends, and investors. However at the last minute, a crucial part for the product cannot be delivered by a Chinese company, and the whole deal collapses. Thus, Jake, to avoid angry investors, packs his bags and heads to New Rochelle, New York to stay with his sister Justine, who's 3 months pregnant and living with her husband Danny (Bobby Cannavale) and their 3-year-old son Teddy. Despite Jake being an absentee family member for years, Justine takes him in, especially when he agrees to take care of Teddy while she and Danny are at work. The highly talented and vivacious actress Rose Byrne portrays Justine, but there's just so much she can do with this rather weak script, in my opinion. Cannavale also gives his usual solid performance as Danny, and Paula Garces adds well to the mix as a possible love interest for Jake. The remainder of the movie will center on how the family interacts with each other and how Jake will try to adjust to his new role in suburbia. In summary, this film directed by Ross Katz with a screenplay from Jeff Cox and Liz Flahive, can't seem to sustain it's humor and edge over the course of the entire movie, and, as other reviewers have noted, falls rather flat as a result.

This movie is a piece of $#!%. No seriously, it looks like Nick Kroll watched "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" (2006), "Death at a Funeral" (2007), "Dan in Real Life" (2007), "Flashbacks of a Fool" (2008), "This Is Where I Leave You" (2014), "The Judge" (2014), etc... .. and made a decision like "Hey! Now it is my time to make a serious Drama!" "Adult Beginners" (2014) also a "Comedy", but I am still not understand where is a jokes and on what I need to laugh!? Maybe on scenes in a swimming pool (but I do not think that women with a kids who have a lessons are funny and can be as an objects for jokes), on playground (where I had a strong feeling that jokes were written by "Lloyd and Harry" from the movie "Dumb & Dumber" (1994)) or conversation in a toilet!? I think Nick Kroll must add small brochure to his movie with description where we must laugh and perhaps same for sadness because this movie also a "Drama". .. ... ..

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 ;)