Reuniting the writer/director team behind the previous, warmly received Brian Morton adaptation, Starting Out in the Evening (Fred Parnes, Andrew Wagner), Breakable You traverses similar territory and themes: the Manhattan literary set, and ideas about artistic validation, integrity and emotional authenticity.

"We're all fakes until we have a good idea, and then we're geniuses," Broadway playwright Adam Weller (Tony Shalhoub) advises his philosophy grad student daughter Maud (Cristin Milioti). But he's a bigger faker than most, and it's been years since he's had a hit play. He's also divorcing his wife, Maud's mom, Eleanor (Holly Hunter), a therapist who almost immediately begins an affair with Adam's brother, Paul (Alfred Molina). Then Adam chances across a lost manuscript that might revive his career. The only trouble is, he didn't write it.

Designed for a sophisticated and discerning audience, Wagner's sensitive, nuanced film retains the novel's density while freely reinventing details large and small. The extraordinary cast never puts a foot wrong; Holly Hunter, especially, seizes this plum principal role and injects it with smarts, energy and compassion. Enjoy! 

Andrew Wagner – Director