Adult Content

Two satisfying, low-profile rentals successfully provide slices of life revolving around adults behaving badly, while a third falls short.

28 HOTEL ROOMS (A-minus) - This fascinating character study of a couple turns "Same Time Next Year" into a psychosexual drama. The amazing Marin Ireland and sturdy Chris Messina bring an impressive improv feel to this glorified stage play about a pair (she's an accountant; he's a novelist) who conduct a years-long series of trysts at hotels despite their betrothals to various others along the way.

Ireland, who had a memorable turn as a homegrown terrorist in "Homeland," is brilliant; she works wonders with her facial expressions. Messina is more than just a great smile and puppy eyes. Both are willing to get fully naked, physically and emotionally, as they coyly dance around the quandary of whether they truly belong together. As an undefined number of years pass (five? ten?), the power dynamic between the two ebbs and flows.

Veteran actor Matt Ross shows a sure hand and stylistic flair in his debut as a writer/director. The narrative can be choppy, but the flawless chemistry and loose banter between Ireland and Messina is riveting from minute 1 to 82. The passion behind their laughs, rants and lovemaking feels genuine. After a second viewing, I bumped this up from a B+ to an A-minus. It's a luscious bit of stagecraft.

(Stay for the end credits for the song "A Dash of Pixie Dust.")

NOBODY WALKS (B) - Thirty-something Ry Russo-Young ("Orphans," "You Won't Miss Me") walks a fine line between earnest romantic drama and cheesy movie tropes -- and succeeds, thanks in part to a strong cast. The expressive Olivia Thirlby ("Juno," "Margaret") carries the load here as Martine, a young filmmaker working on an experimental project involving natural sounds.

She's invited into the home of Peter and Julie (John Krasinski of "The Office" and the always-welcome Rosemarie DeWitt of "Your Sister's Sister"), where Peter is tapped to mentor Martine and help her finish her film. Their collaboration evolves into intimate recordings (of her breathing, for example) and eventually tips over into the physical. Meanwhile, Julie has her own temptations to deal with.

Teenager India Ennenga (HBO's "Treme"), as Peter and Julie's curious daughter Kolt, is the wild card who helps divert us from the potential of a trite series of misbehaviors. She plays an emerging young woman pining for her dad's hunky assistant (Rhys Wakefield) and fending off creepy come-ons from her Italian language tutor (Emanuele Secci).

The women make this worth watching, and Krasinski (who was good in the under-appreciated "Away We Go") doesn't embarrass himself. Things zip by in under 90 minutes and you cut Russo-Young (co-writing the script with Lena Dunham) enough slack for her to succeed. 

THE PLAYROOM (B-minus) - This is a lightweight period piece about the horrors of adulthood -- this time it is drunken, swinging mid-'70s parents traumatizing their four kids, led by 16-year-old Maggie (newcomer Olivia Harris). The kids gather upstairs telling fairy tales and ghost stories -- escapist adventures -- while the parents have "adult time" downstairs. While they fetishize the era with an authentic set, writer Gretchen Dyer and director Julia Dyer assemble enough charming small moments and neat visual tricks to hold our attention.

The kids here are all sharp. Maggie acts out (smoking and having realistic first-time sex) but she also fills in as de facto mom to her younger siblings. Alexandra Doke, as the other sister, around age 9, is a revelation; just the right amount of cute and smart. The banter among the children is casual and believable. Their camaraderie holds the film together.

The parents, however, come across as morose, mumbling caricatures who goof off in the background with the neighbor couple. They are about as relevant as the squawking adults in Peanuts cartoons. If it weren't for appealing duo of Molly Parker and John Hawkes, this would have been a train wreck. Even with them, the drama is broad and telegraphed. This wants to be "The Ice Storm" meets "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but it comes off as a minor imitation of those dramatic giants.

The Dyers' lovely little mood piece falls apart in the final act, with a rather implausible climax involving the adults. But they've strung together some lovely scenes, and every so often they hit a nerve, even if all the film's pieces don't quite add up.