Working with name actors for the first time, pioneer mumblecore director Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess, Funny Ha Ha) transitions to a bigger-budget league with this loping, pleasingly off-centre romantic comedy about self-control and its discontents, set in the world of personal trainers. Trevor (Guy Pearce, speaking with his native Australian accent for a change) runs a gym in Austin, Texas, and has an on-off thing with his tightly wound employee Kat (Cobie Smulders). When she takes on new client Danny (Kevin Corrigan), a laidback slob who has suddenly come into a multimillion-dollar inheritance, his romantic overtures prompt her to question what she really wants from life, and that has unexpected repercussions for everyone involved. Although not as strikingly original as Bujalski’s earlier work, there’s something endearing about the characters, the film’s laconic, stoner rhythms and quirky plotting. In the end, it has something wise and kind to say about loneliness and the cult of personal improvement, and it’s hard not to like a movie that features two fat pets – a dog and cat – who are proper characters in their own right.
