If you are looking for a film that you will learn something from you have chosen the wrong one. That's not a knock on the quality of this piece, but it is a fact. This is the difficult to sit through story of a reckless young NYC man, with a violent temper, who has never been able to get his act together and is now in the midst of experiencing the death of his father, who he was not close to and hadn't seen much of, and his mother who is dying of cancer who he is very devoted to and vice versa. He takes care of her the best he can, when booze, drugs and women don't get in the way and when things get really bad he never leaves her side. The principal reason to watch this very sad piece is the excellent writing and the outstanding performances of Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. One forgets how capable Nixon is since we rarely see her in anything other than her role of Miranda in Sex and the City and more recently And Just Like That. She has a long history in theater and she is an excellent actress who is highly underused. Abbott on the other hand is a little bit newer to the game, but works a lot and has offered some fascinating performances in small independent films and he has impressed me greatly including here. The man is just a natural born actor who never gives a false note in anything I have seen him in. This is an actor who wants to do creative things outside of the Hollywood scene. I also appreciated Kid Cudi as James' best friend. So, watch this if you like fine acting and are in the mood to be sad.
