Crises

BRAD'S STATUS (C+) - We are big fans of Mike White, and he has a wonderful touch with stories centered around struggling women: "The Good Girl," "Beatriz at Dinner" and HBO's "Enlightened." Here, he puts forth a midlife crisis of a do-gooder mensch with a perfectly fine life -- cute, understanding wife and brilliant son who is headed off to college. But the voices in his head tell him that he doesn't measure up, to either his uber-successful former college buddies or to the potential of his own son.

Ben Stiller mopes through the proceedings, whining in endless voice-overs about the injustices raining down on a 47-year-old with a bounty of riches, even if they are not all monetary (and even if some of the riches come from his in-laws). His old buddies, often depicted living it up in simplistic montages, have snubbed him to the point of not inviting him to one of their weddings, a rebuff that Brad just can't let go of. But one of the pals (Michael Sheen) comes through for Brad when he needs a Yale alum to put in a good word for Brad's music-prodigy son, Troy (Austin Abrams, whose mumbling millennial manner provides the only fresh take among a talented cast). The twist here is that Troy seems to have his act together while Brad is a tightly packed ball of resentments.

Despite the hurdles that White sets up for viewers seeking entertainment, Brad does have qualities that a middle-aged white guy can identify with, exemplified in Brad's brief, innocent flirtation with one of Troy's female friends. But any substantive ideas put forth here are scattered and conflicting. In the end, Brad doesn't have it so bad, and we don't need to be lectured about his midlife angst.

DOUBLE LOVER (B-minus) - Francois Ozon, the best pound-for-pound storyteller in film today, fumbles an adaptation of a Joyce Carol Oates short story and turns in the least affecting movie of his two-decade feature career. He once again taps Marine Vacth, from his 2014 release "Young & Beautiful," now in her mid-20s, to play Chloe, a paranoid woman who is tormented by her boyfriend's evil twin (both are played by Jeremie Renier).

This is a fairly pat horror film that comes not so much a twist as a gradual 180-degree rotation throughout the tense 107-minute running time. Is Chloe being deceived about her boyfriend's true nature? Why is she indulging her basest desires with his brother?

Ozon barely makes this worth viewing. He still knows how to have fun with a narrative. And Vacth, like in "Young & Beautiful," uses her steely, boyish model attractiveness to lure the viewer into the story. Grand dame Jacqueline Bisset turns up toward the end to effect a key plot swerve, but not in time to rescue this pulpy plaything from being only slightly above average.