Adam Scott plays Carter, a restaurant owner who has spent most of his life keeping the peace between his hateful and bitter divorced parents, played by Richard Jenkins and Catherine O'Hara, by keeping them away from one another. When Carter's younger brother, played by Clark Duke, gets engaged, Carter is asked to be the best man and help plan the wedding. This means trying to get their mother and father in the same room without starting a war. The stress of this task leads Carter to re-visit his childhood therapist, played by Jane Lynch, where he finds out she's not a therapist but an author who was doing research for her now best-selling book, Adult Children Of Divorce.
Adam Scott has been around since the mid 90's but it wasn't until 2004 when his career really took off being cast in Martin Scorsese's film, The Aviator. It was in 2008, playing the evil older brother of Will Ferrell in Adam McKay's masterpiece (arguably the funniest film of all-time), Step Brothers, that Adam Scott's full potential as a comedic actor was finally noticed. A.C.O.D. re-unites him with Richard Jenkins, who played his step-father in Step Brothers, and Amy Poehler, who plays his wife on the sitcom, Parks and Recreation, yet here plays his mean-spirited step-mother. This will leave audiences to expect big laughs from A.C.O.D. as it's hard not to relate it to both Step Brothers and Parks and Rec, due to similar casting. Unfortunately, this will lead to disappointment.
The film is co-written by award-winning writer/producer Ben Karlin, who was a head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and writes for Modern Family. Between Karlin's talent and a large ensemble cast filled with big names, director Stu Zicherman had much to manage, especially being his directorial debut.
The cast is excellent, especially Richard Jenkins and Catherine O'Hara. The real war going on here isn't between their characters in the film but between the drama and comedy that make up the story. The film seems to be trying to deliver a message that is lost, like a lot of potential laughs due to an imbalance. It's hard to tell whether this imbalance came from the script or from the inexperienced director.
A.C.O.D. begins as an exciting laugh-out-loud comedy. As the film moves past the first 20 minutes, it starts taking itself too seriously and becomes more dramatic than humorous, which will let down the majority of it's audience.
