Easy Does It (2018)

Perhaps the easiest of this type was James C. Strouse’s People, Places, Things, a palatable trifle starring Jemaine Clement as Will, a graphic novelist and teacher at the School of Visual Arts who has to face reentering New York’s brutal dating pool after his wife leaves him for a schlump (played by Michael Chernus, also an improbable lady-killer in another Sundance standout, Noah Baumbach’s winning screwball comedy Mistress America). One of Will’s students (a very good but underutilized Jessica Williams) sets him up on a date with her attractive Columbia professor mom (Regina Hall), and after a somewhat contentious first meeting, romance does begin to bloom—but Will’s number-one priority remains his twin daughters. Writer-director Strouse, himself an SVA faculty member, has crafted an affecting, bittersweet—accent on the sweet—and highly personal film, and finds a perfect leading man in the charming Clement, at his bumbling best here.

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