CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.
Film Review: Hilarious Cast Elevates Mediocre ‘A.C.O.D.’
Rating: 3.0/5.0 |
CHICAGO – The incredibly talented men and women who make up the cast of “A.C.O.D.” make the relative failure of its script easier to bear. Just hearing brilliant actors like Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara at each other’s throats or watching remarkably likable stars like Adam Scott and Mary Elizabeth Winstead figure out their relationship has enough charm to get one from lights down to credits roll. And the first hour of “A.C.O.D.” is pretty damn funny, allowing one to hope that it will develop into something truly memorable. For some reason, the theme of Sundance comedies this year (“In a World…,” “Afternoon Delight,” and this one) is non-endings as “A.C.O.D.” can’t follow through on its clever set-up.
Carter (Scott) thinks he has it all together. He has a successful restaurant, beautiful girlfriend (Winstead), and has maintained a tenuous peace between his long-divorced parents (Jenkins & O’Hara) for years now. His unknowingly fragile bubble is shattered when brother Trey (Clark Duke) announces his engagement to his relatively-new girlfriend. Not only does the idea that Trey would even want to engage in such a poisoned institution as marriage baffle Carter but he realizes that his acrimonious parents will have to be in the same room together (sometimes accompanied by dad’s new wife played by Amy Poehler and mom’s new beau played by Ken Howard) and Carter will be forced back into the role of peacekeeper.
Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “A.C.O.D.” in our reviews section. |
The news sends Carter back to Dr. Judith (Jane Lynch), a woman he remembers as his family therapist during the divorce years. It turns out that Judith wasn’t really a doctor and actually used Carter to write a bestselling book called “Children of Divorce.” She changed the names but seeing Carter’s childhood in print shatters him even further, a situation not helped by the fact that Judith wants to do an update – “Adult Children of Divorce” (or “A.C.O.D.”). A beautiful fellow subject named Michelle (Jessica Alba) challenges Carter’s relationship and he basically cracks when he discovers something truly unwanted going down on a kitchen counter.
A.C.O.D.
Photo credit: The Film Arcade