I was quite keen to see this one when the MIFF program first came out. I’m a big fan of Mark Duplass, even his films that aren’t complete successes usually have some quirky warm heart to them that keeps me coming back for more.

This is not a Mark Duplass film though, it is directed by his brother, Jay but his name was enough to make me give this a go. I was hoping for a bit of an indie funny exploration of middle America.

It was a popular session with all of the seats filled, and maybe a little too mainstream which often brings with it people on their phones and eating food loudly out of noisy containers. The guy behind me kept tapping on his water bottle lid or something, or taking it on and off and clicking it open and shut, I’m not quite sure what it was, but it was very annoying.

Anyway, I should focus on the film. It’s fine. There’s a lot to like about it and it is funny in a Kevin Smith kind of way. Cliff (Michael Strassner) is a bearded teddy bear of a man, who has a fiancée who seems to be low-key disappointed with him. He is six months sober, which is an achievement, but for some reason she feels that his work as a stand-up comedian also needs to be something he lets go of. With this one fact, we know she’s not a good person for him.

On the way to a family Christmas meal at his fiancee’s parents place, he trips and breaks a tooth, leading him to the only dental practice still open on Christmas Eve. Dentist Didi (Liz Larsen) is older than him, old enough to have a daughter and a granddaughter, and she has a brisk and pragmatic style. There are lots of laughs when he is affected by nitrous oxide and, rather oddly and winsomely, they strike up a bit of a friendship.

This leads them to a series of oddball and mad adventures, where against Didi’s will, she slowly warms to his goofy charms. It’s rather funny and lovely, in a slightly downbeat and occasionally cringe-worthy way, but we kind of believe the growing connection between them, and how life and our choices can sometimes be awkward and regretted and unclear.

In many ways, it’s a romcom about middle-aged people, which is refreshing in itself. Strassner is often genuinely funny, although I think we are supposed to see him as someone who is flawed and a little broken. It has a nice, bleak Christmas vibe to it though.