What do you do when you not only lose all your money in an investment gone bad, you lose all your friends’ money as well? In true Hollywood fashion, you return to your home to hide and slowly pick up the pieces of your pathetic, shattered life.

So goes Adult Beginners, a fun if not particularly groundbreaking indie comedy-drama starring Nick Kroll, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale.

All three of the leads have great chemistry together, Kroll and Byrne as brother-sister duo Jake and Justine and Cannavale as Justine’s husband Danny. Also benefiting from a strong screenplay by Jeff Cox (Blades of Glory) and Liz Flahive (some episodes of “Nurse Jackie”), Adult Beginners offers rich characters and the intriguing, ever-evolving dynamics between them.

Jack’s evolution of a character is fun to watch and Kroll certainly appears to be having fun in the role; his not-so-traditional relationship with Blanca (Paula Garcés) is also a highlight. Cannavale tends to lurk at the sidelines for most of the movie, but he injects energy into every scene he’s in. Byrne continues to prove she is much funnier than many people give her credit.

Adult Beginners’s biggest downside is that it doesn’t do enough to separate from other similar movies. After the screening, I asked another critic what she thought and she shrugged her shoulders, saying “It’s pretty much Skeleton Twins,” a movie I called “an entertaining if slightly standard affair.”

The comparison is fair, and while I actually liked Adult Beginners a bit more, the differences are marginal. It does peter out towards the end as it slowly plods toward a fairly traditional ending, but the shot of Jack smiling underwater really does a great job of bringing things full circle to show just how far he’s come during the 90-minute running time.

While far from amazing, Adult Beginners is a worthwhile endeavor, a notch above your typical indie dramedy. Now, let’s talk about this great new investment opportunity I’d like to offer you.

Review by Erik Samdahl.