''Adult Beginners'' is a 2014 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Ross Katz Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

and written by Jeff Cox and

Liz Flahive Liz Flahive is an American playwright, television producer and writer. Beginning her career as a playwright, Flahive wrote two plays, ''From Up Here'' and ''The Madrid''. She acted as a producer, executive story editor, and writer on ''Nurse Jack ...

based on a story by

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The Lea ...

. The film stars

Rose Byrne Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role i ...

, Kroll,

Bobby Cannavale Roberto Michael Cannavale (; born May 3, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for various television roles, including leading roles in ''Third Watch'', ''Vinyl'', and ''Mr. Robot'', as well as recurring roles in ''Will & Grace'', which wo ...

, and

Joel McHale Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015). He has performed i ...

RADiUS-TWC The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob Weinstein, Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North ...

acquired the North American distribution rights of the film during its premiere at the

2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...

. The film was released in a limited release in theatres and VOD on April 24, 2015.

Cast

as Justine *

as Jake *

as Danny *

as Hudson *Caleb and Matthew Paddock as Teddy *

Paula Garcés Paula Garcés (born March 20, 1974) is a Colombian and American actress. She is known for her appearance in films such as ''Clockstoppers'', '' Man of the House'' and the ''Harold & Kumar'' series, and on TV shows such as ''CSI: Miami'', ''On ...

as Blanca *

Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress, comedienne, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four ...

as Miss Jenn *

Jason Mantzoukas Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...

as Herman *

Bobby Moynihan Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...

as Paul *

Josh Charles Joshua Aaron Charles (born September 15, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for the roles of Dan Rydell on '' Sports Night; '' Will Gardner on ''The Good Wife'', which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations; and his early wo ...

as Phil *

Neil Casey Neil Casey (born July 28, 1981) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He served as a writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2013 and ''Inside Amy Schumer'' in 2014, receiving Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writin ...

as Neil *

Mike Birbiglia Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

as Braden *

Caitlin FitzGerald Caitlin FitzGerald (born August 25, 1983) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her role as Libby Masters in the Showtime television drama ''Masters of Sex'' and as the elusive Simone in Starz series '' Sweetbitter''. Ear ...

as Kat

Production

Casting

On November 1, 2013, it was announced that

, and

were attached to star in ''Brother's Keeper'' - the original title which later changed to ''Adult Beginners''. On December 10, 2013,

has been cast as Kat, Jake's girlfriend "who dumps him after his tech startup fails and he moves back to his family home." This film marks the third onscreen appearance of actual couple Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne after having both appeared in ''

Annie Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

'' in 2014 and ''

Spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

'' earlier in 2015.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

took place in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

including a house on Elk Avenue in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

for a month in January and February 2014.

Release

''Adult Beginners'' had its premiere at the

on September 8, 2014. It was released on April 24, 2015 in a limited release in and through VOD on April 24, 2015 in the United States.

Marketing

The first trailer was released on March 14, 2015, titled "Make Me Jealous".

Reception

Box office

During its opening weekend, ''Adult Beginners'' debuted with a total of $36,657 across 10 theatres. As of September 24, 2015, the film has grossed $104,808 in North America.

Critical response

''Adult Beginners'' received generally mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a 48% approval rating based on reviews from 79 critics, with an average score of 5.76/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Perfectly pleasant yet never particularly engaging, ''Adult Beginners'' is a mild middle-of-the-road comedy content to coast on the charms of its talented cast."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gives the film a score of 57 out of 100 based on reviews from 26 critics. ''Adult Beginners'' gained a fairly positive response at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Nikola Grozdanovic of

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

giving it a B+ grade, saying "it’s not perfect, but as far as feature debuts go, there’s very little you can fault ''Adult Beginners'' for. Slightly pedantic and maudlin at times, with telegraphed metaphors and some rushed pacing, it’s still hard to call any of these hiccups major flaws. Katz, with the help of an inspired cast and an emotionally intelligent and mature screenplay, has succeeded in depicting the trials and tribulations of adults who, all for respectfully different yet equally weighty reasons, often make a three-year-old the most mature person in the room." He also praised the supporting roles of McHale, Krawkowski, and particularly Moynihan. Phil Brown of ''Collider'' gave the film a B− grade calling it "cute". "It’s a very heartfelt, sweet, funny, moving and deliberately small movie that does exactly what it’s supposed to do and then rolks '' ic' credits before wearing out it’s '' ic' welcome. ..It’s a little wisp of a comedy with enough warm sentiments and observations about eccentrically neurotic adults to slip in a little emotional sting."

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said of the film that "it’s the sort of casual hangout vibe that feels so lived-in, it’s a shame when the film begins to devolve into the sort of rigged reconciliations and easy epiphanies it had largely avoided, up to a point. ..Still, those imperfections are forgivable, even fitting, for a modest, well-assembled charmer that represents a welcome branching out for most of the key talents involved." Furthermore, at the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

, Michael Roffman of

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

said "you don’t need to rush out and see ''Adult Beginners''. However, it’s an ideal Netflix viewing in the near future, when the winter shifts into something awful and the afternoon begs for a little couching."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adult Beginners 2014 comedy-drama films 2014 films American comedy-drama films Duplass Brothers Productions films Films about siblings Films directed by Ross Katz Films scored by Marcelo Zarvos Films set in Westchester County, New York Films shot in New York (state) 2014 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films