Getting By

MR. ROOSEVELT (B+) - Noel Wells makes an assured feature debut as writer/director/star in this quirky hipster romp about a disaffected 20-something returning to the Austin scene and her ex-boyfriend to tend to her dying cat. Wells is disaffected Emily -- bored with her advertising job, conflicted about a comedy career (and YouTube popularity), and emotionally invested in her old cat, Mr. Roosevelt. She sort of just moved to L.A. one day, leaving Mr. Roosevelt and Eric (Nick Thune) behind. Eric now has a perfect new girlfriend, Celeste (Britt Lower), and has dumped his boho musician lifestyle in favor of studying real estate and letting Celeste make over him and his house.

Wells and Thune have fine chemistry. And Daniella Pineda, as an Austin waitress who befriends Emily, nearly steals the show with a rock star's presence. But Wells holds it all together with sharp humor and emotional grit -- offering up yet another millennial entry in the "Garden State" sweepstakes. Wells gets the little things near perfect (her return to Austin was so hurried that she brought only one childish outfit), and the ensemble cast is hard to resist.

QUEST (B) - This solid but unspectacular documentary follows a black family eking out a living in northern Philadelphia during the Obama years. Newcomer Jonathan Olshefski spent years with Christopher "Quest" Rainey and his family and friends, reserving judgment and merely presenting their story.

Quest is a devoted husband and father, and he mentors young rappers through his hardscrabble production studio. His wife, Christine'a, works in the medical field, and together they bring up a daughter, P.J., and Christine'a's older son who is battling cancer and raising a newborn of his own. P.J. is the symbol of hope, a teenager good at sports but awkward socially. When a street shooting touches the family, you see firsthand how urban violence has a human impact. But Olshefski keeps things low-key and doesn't grasp at Big Themes, instead letting the eventful-yet-uneventful goings-on of a typical American family play out over the long haul.