Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale have been dating since 2012 and have made three films together in that time. She's the Australian beauty known for the "X-Men" and "Insidious" films, as well as 2014's "Neighbors" and 2011's "Bridesmaids". He's the tall, dark and handsome actor who played Al Pacino's estranged son in "Danny Collins" (2015), Cate Blanchett's would-be suitor in "Blue Jasmine" (2011) and did a season each of "Nurse Jackie" and "Boardwalk Empire". Together, Byrne and Cannavale have made 2014's "Annie" and 2015's spring releases "Adult Beginners" and "Spy". Now, you may be wondering why I've devoted the opening paragraph of my review of "Adult Beginners" (R, 1:30) to the relationship between two of the movie's stars. Well, it's because that's the most interesting thing about this movie. Nick Kroll (who has had a recurring role on "Parks and Recreation" and has his own show on Comedy Central) came up with the story, and stars in "Adult Beginners" as Jake, a self-centered tech guru whose career gets off track, leading him to move in with his sister, Justine (Byrne) and her husband, Danny (Cannavale). Justine, who's expecting her second child, and Danny, who's building the young family a new home, let Jake earn his keep (and saves them some money) by providing day care for their 3-year-old son, Teddy (played by twins Caleb and Matthew Paddock). Jake is predictably inept at taking care of the lad, but he isn't the only adult in the film with an underdeveloped sense of self. Along with Jake, Justine and Danny also feel and act like overgrown kids, or
adult beginners.
The film's title actually refers to the fact that Jake and Justine never learned to swim, but they end up taking little Teddy to a swim class taught by Miss Jenn (Jane Krakowski), who encourages them to take an adult beginners swim class. Other familiar faces that pop up in minor roles include Josh Charles ("The Good Wife") as Jake's prospective employer, Joel McHale ("Community") as Jake's shallow best friend and Bobby Moynihan ("SNL"), who plays a socially awkward former high school classmate of Jake's. After riding a pretty steep learning curve, and with the help of fellow nanny, Blanca (Paula Garcés), Jake starts to get the hang of being Teddy's nanny, but being in his sister's home for a period of months exposes him to some family drama that he would rather have avoided, but has to deal with.
"Adult Beginners" wants to be a poignant reflection on what it means to be an adult, and make us laugh in the process. It fails on both counts. The conversations and scenes meant to deliver the movie's message are few, far between and not really integral to the other goings-on. The jokes are not few and far between, but they're also not very funny. The cast member who comes closest to amusing is Moynihan, but only in two brief scenes. The three main adult characters are unsympathetic and the actors playing them are uncharismatic. Cannavale, who has done some great work over the past couple years, unconvincingly bounces back and forth between clueless and angry. Byrne, whose career has had as many misses as hits, was funnier in "Neighbors" – and that ain't saying much. Kroll sleepwalks through his role, a self-absorbed sad-sack, a la Adam Sandler, but not as entertaining. McHale and Krakowski could have brightened things up a bit, but instead are relegated to thankless roles that make almost no use of their considerable comedic talents.
The scenes depicting Jake's struggles with his new position as glorified babysitter are uninspired and the other gags involving kids aren't only unfunny, they're offensive, that is, unless you find pregnant women getting drunk, couples having sex while toddlers are left to fend for themselves and frequent swearing in front of small children to be humorous. And speaking of the language in this movie, I'm no prude and I think that some well-placed cussing can even be pretty funny, but this script drops f-bombs and other colorful words like they're going out of style. The foul language doesn't advance the plot, doesn't make the movie any funnier and seems to have pointlessly saddled this film with an unnecessarily restrictive MPAA rating. This film gives us too little of what could have made it entertaining, too much of what distracted from its potential and makes me think the title would be better used to describe the people who made this movie. "Adult Beginners" gets a "D".
