Review: Director-star John Krasinski works hard at making ‘The Hollars’ likable

It’s tough to dislike “The Hollars,” which is something director-star John Krasinski and writer Jim Strouse work overtime to ensure. That’s hardly a bad thing, though, when a film is as warm, funny and truthful as this one.

But it’s the movie’s endearingly wacky approach that most sets it apart from the myriad of previous dysfunctional family tales. Strouse’s deft script and Krasinki’s game direction upend a host of familiar moments in ways that are fresh and unexpected — if sometimes overly broad. The terrific cast doesn’t hurt.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »

Krasinski plays John Hollar, a graphic novelist living in New York with a stalled career, pregnant girlfriend Rebecca (Anna Kendrick) and deeply mixed emotions. His funk is disrupted when he’s summoned back to his small hometown (Ohio is implied but the film was shot in Mississippi) by his demonstrative dad, Don (Richard Jenkins), and flailing older brother, Ron (Sharlto Copley), when John’s big-hearted mom Sally (Margo Martindale), is diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Other homefront issues awaiting John: Don’s ailing business, Ron’s desperate need to reconnect with his ex-wife and kids, and John’s hot-to-trot high school girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), now married to an edgy male nurse (Charlie Day). Rebecca’s sudden arrival in town also factors in.

Things end on a bittersweet, emotionally satisfying note as the film happily doubles down on its aim to please. Mission accomplished.

-------------

‘The Hollars’

MPAA Rating: PG-13, for brief language and some thematic material

Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

Playing: ArcLight Cinemas, Hollywood; the Landmark, West Los Angeles