Parents' Guide to Brad's Status

Writer-director White specializes in over-analytical, self-loathing souls who have trouble dealing with their lives, and Stiller does a brilliant job playing the chronically unsatisfied Brad. It's hard to humanize someone unlikable, but Stiller manages the feat with a subtle performance that doesn't turn Brad into a complete sad sack. Most viewers will be able to relate to someone who feels a little bit of envy or even preoccupation with wondering whether they made the right choices, but Stiller's ability to reveal the depth of Brad's neuroses without turning him into a caricature is amazing. Brad's constant navel-gazing goes from amusing to eye-rolling to cringe-worthy, then back to amusing -- and so on.

Also impressive is the nuanced performance by Abrams, who plays Brad's son, Troy. Troy also has his share of stressors (what over-achieving high school senior isn't stressed?), but he isn't suffering from a "nervous meltdown" like his moody father. A talented young actor known for his work on The Walking Dead and Paper Towns, Abrams has a great scene in which Troy gives a wonderful little speech about his love for his father. There are also standout supporting performances from Sheen, who plays a breezily egotistical power broker, and Shazi Raja as an idealistic Harvard junior named Ananya. She, at 21, says exactly what most viewers are probably thinking about Brad -- that he's "just fine" and that he "has enough" but just can't see it because he's too fixated on what he doesn't possess.