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Actor Clea DuVall shows a sly sense of humor in her directing debut, "The Intervention," a pleasantly funny and awkward comedy.
Four couples who are friends and siblings, in various combinations, gather for a weekend gathering at a summer house. What one of the couples, the always-feuding Ruby (Cobie Smulders) and Peter ("Boardwalk Empire's" Vincent Piazza), don't know is that the other three plan to hold an intervention on their marriage and urge them to divorce.
The catch is that the other couples have their problems, too: Micromanaging Annie (Melanie Lynskey) binge-drinks and has been postponing her wedding to Mark (Jason Ritter); Ruby's brother Jack (Ben Schwartz) has brought his new, and way younger, girlfriend, Lola (Alia Shawkat); and lesbian couple Jesse (played by DuVall) and Sarah (Natasha Lyonne) argue about still living apart after three years.
DuVall, who wrote and directed, lets the actors find their comic rhythms, and the juxtapositions of the performers generate solid laughs. Lynskey, who won a special jury prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival, hilariously rolls out Annie's ball of quirks, but the fiercest performer is Shawkat, a live-wire who energizes every scene she's in. The script stumbles a bit toward a too-pat conclusion, but the ensemble's chemistry carries the day.
'The Intervention'
Opening Friday, Aug. 26, at the Tower Theatre; rated R for language including sexual references; 90 minutes.