This film had one good plot line, the rest is a toss away.
The good one: Olivia Wilde previously having caught her fiance doesn't believe in love and under values herself by sleeping with a married man and avoiding the disappointment in her family. Fortunately, she runs into her total opposite Jake Lacy, about to join the army. He is a Republican. But they slowly fall in love and she even gets him to pose as her boyfriend for her family, though he takes it one step further saying that he is her fiancé. It is beautiful, watching the two of them fall in love so quickly and perfectly though even this plot line is slightly ruined when Olivia dumps her doctor boyfriend also quickly, but it needed to happen.
Now to all the other crappy plot lines: Diane Keaton and John Goodman are the parents of Ed Helms and Olivia Wilde and are having struggles with their marriage and are on the brink of divorce. They haven't had the best marriage and still haven't fully recovered from the death of their daughter decades ago.
Alan Arkin is great as another grouchy old man bewildered as to why his daughters don't exactly like each other. He eats at a crappy diner every day just because he bonded with the young waitress Amanda Seyfried, missing the opportunity to steal scenes in her painfully underwritten role. Amanda wants bigger things and is moving elsewhere leaving Alan with little to look forward to each day.
Ed Helms is unemployed and still upset over his divorce, struggling with his kids, and that's pretty much it.
Marisa Tomei steals things and is upset over never having settled down but the world's longest record police ride with Anthony Mackie forces her to face her life for what it is. Mackie does make the most of his underwritten role.
Everything works out in the end, though the opportunity is missed to either have Amanda and Ed end up together or have them just be friends. I would have also liked an epilogue or something at the end, though the St. Bernard, Rags (voiced by Steve Martin) narrated the whole film, which is just odd, the dog with the unstainable appetite telling the whole story.
This film was a disappointment, with no humor and too many serious plot lines with uneven screen time between them. The talent was sorely wasted which is just unfortunate, please pick better projects next time. Grade: C+
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