Why all the whining? Put another way, why does Brad (Ben Stiller) spend more time counting other people’s successes than he does taking stock in his own good fortune? Beset by the feeling that his college chums (Michael Sheen, Jermaine Clement, Luke Wilson) are all passing him by, his anxieties reach fever pitch while taking his son Troy (Austin Abrams) on a tour of potential colleges. Writer Mike White’s (Year of the Dog) collaborations with director Miguel Arteta (Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl) are always cause for celebration. But here, left to his own directorial devices, all he has to show for himself is talk, and lots of it. White does right by Stiller, outfitting with a career-topping role, but while Brad’s seemingly wall-to-wall narration is not without interest, there’s just too damn much of it. And in this case, the conclusions reached aren’t worth the fuss. With Jenna Fischer and Filicia Shulman. (2017) — Scott Marks
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