This thoughtful ensemble piece from writer/director Nicole Holofcener (Friends with Money) is like a Woody Allen movie with no real story and a wealth of wayward subplots. Which is actually much better than it sounds; for where Allen's films live or die by the strength of the narrative, this New York-set, comic domestic drama very eloquently captures the absurdities and frustrations of modern life. The focus is Kate (Catherine Keener), a well-to-do antique furniture dealer who, with her husband Alex (Oliver Platt), runs a business that profits handsomely by buying from the children of dead people. The pair live with their teenage daughter and are waiting for crabby neighbour Andra (Ann Morgan Guilbert) to die so they can extend their apartment, a situation that brings them into contact with the old lady's granddaughters, Rebecca and Mary (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet). Holofcener ably depicts the awkwardness of the ensuing relationships, and is adept at portraying women believably, drawing strong performances from a talented cast. In addition, issues of jealousy, guilt, teen angst and, most effectively of all, loneliness, are represented in an understated and compassionate way.

In New York City, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.