Anna Kendrick and Margo martindale were the stars of the movie... otherwise below average movie with nothing new to see in the movie

Ron Hollar (Sharlto Copley) is an adult son living in the family home with his parents Don (Richard Jenkins) and Sally (Margo Martindale). Ron is recently fired from the failing family business. He stalks his ex-wife Stacey who is moving on with reverend Dan (Josh Groban). They have two kids together. Sally suffers a seizure and Dr. Fong (Randall Park) diagnoses a brain tumor. John (John Krasinski) returns home from NYC after receiving the news from his pregnant girlfriend Rebecca (Anna Kendrick). Jason (Charlie Day) is a hospital nurse who still holds a grudge and married to John's ex Gwen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) with a baby.I really don't like Sharlto Copley. His character starts off by peeing in a bottle in the kitchen. It's off-putting without being funny. His character is entirely annoying without being funny. Almost everybody is a little annoying without being funny. I wonder if Charlie Day could be funnier as Ron. This is John Krasinski's feature directorial debut. I get his intention of a quirky dark comedy indie. I didn't get much comedy and the indie is all too familiar.

I could nitpick and find a trillion faults with this movie. The direction lacks any sort of inspiration, letting the viewer actually "feel" the passive way Krasinski chooses to go about treating the all-star cast. Thankfully, most of the actors seem to know what they're doing so, albeit lukewarm directorially, the performances somewhat save the day.My opinion, unless he seriously ups his game, JC really needs to keep his front-of-camera day job and leave the technicalities to those with a more creative eye. Onwards.The writing is inconsistent, varying from incoherent to brilliant which, let's just say is not good for those with short attention spans. Like a screenwriter's hoarding wasteland, the plot is crammed with all sorts of random subplots that add nothing to the story, ultimately resulting in frustrating loose ends - so be prepared to invest and be disappointed.Now, for the surprise. I actually enjoyed this movie. Emotional manipulation, forced drama and all, on the back of the magnificent chemistry between Martindale and Jenkings, Krasinski's dead-pan despondence, Day's irrational wit, and Kendrick's refreshingly grounded performance, I was thoroughly entertained. The movie offers quite a few pieces of quotable dialogue and peppered with humorous lacings, certain melodramatic sequences that border on the twee never quite tip over to the cringe-inducing side, keeping the drama basic but real.All said and done, this would have been a two-star, forgettable annoyance, yet it somehow succeeded in gripping my attention enough for me to enjoy the otherwise menial material.From me, three stars and never forget that Margo Martindale is one of the great ones.

I really wanted to like this. The acting talent is top-notch and everyone delivered. Unfortunately to me the story just seemed super cheesebally. It just seemed like every scene was simply there to elicit a very one-dimensional in-your-face sort of reaction. For example (SPOILERS!!!) when the mom successfully comes through the operation only to then die moments later out of the blue?? It felt like a totally transparent ham-handed way just to force the audience to ride an emotional roller-coaster. Wahoo! Not.Again all the actors did a very fine job, particularly Jenkins, Martindale and Copley. Although Krasinski pretty much just continued to play a slight variation of Jim from The Office which is all I've really seen from him.It may be a slice of life, but it felt like a didactic blunt way to present the usual life/death, love/family melodrama themes which have been done a lot more creatively in the past.