The Adults (Movie)

Michael Cera’s latest misfit is a poker addict unable to communicate with his sisters in Dustin Guy Defa’s keen-eyed dramedy.The adults of Dustin Guy Defa’s keen-eyed dramedy probably wouldn’t realize that the movie’s title refers to them. These three emotionally stunted siblings — Eric (Michael Cera), Rachel (Hannah Gross) and Maggie (Sophia Lillis) — are more like suspicious alley cats. What went awry in their home where Eric, a loner with patchy mutton chops and a poker addiction, has arrived for the shortest visit he can get away with? Like his characters, Defa keeps mum. The film is about this family’s inability to talk, so he’s obeying their limits.Defa’s tight and tidy focus on communication — mostly verbal, sometimes role play (“Hug me like you haven’t seen me for three years,” Rachel instructs Eric) — adds a smart layer to this otherwise familiar tale of estrangement. The trio is only sincere when reverting to the stage acts they invented as children, a showcase of vaudeville comics and singers. (The lyrics, by Defa, have an off-kilter cadence that fits the tone better than the sentimental pop-folk soundtrack.) Gross is saddled with the flattest role: a dour cynic who goes grim-faced whenever Cera enters a room. When she finally starts slinging insults in a witch’s squawk, it’s a treat to see her cut loose.Cera is known for playing misfits, but his inscrutable Eric is even more awkward about what he should and shouldn’t say. At the card table, Eric unnerves the gamblers, by, for once, blurting out exactly what he thinks. Later, he confounds a flirtatious girl (Kiah McKirnan) with a string of mixed signals. But nothing wounds him like a failed joke — his only form of connection. After yet another chilly meet-up, he sighs, “Was it my delivery?”The AdultsRated R for language. Running time: 1 hour 31 minutes. In theaters. More