Daddy, Bright and Dark

LEAVE NO TRACE (B) - Sluggish but affecting. A man takes his daughter off the grid, and it's clear that he's got some serious mental health issues, requiring his daughter to step up. This is from Debra Granik, still finding her voice after "Down to the Bone," "Winter's Bone" and the palate-cleansing documentary "Stray Dog." Ben Foster is positively chilling as the father who gets caught by authorities and relocated to civilization with his daughter (a solid Thomasin McKenzie) before he quickly starts plotting another escape to the wilderness.

This might not need to be 1 hour 46 minutes, but Granik builds toward a positively heart-breaking conclusion, and the familial bond that shifts in power dynamics is fascinating. Patience pays off here.

THE WEEK OF (B) - Mock me if you will, but there's a place every once in a while for Adam Sandler. Whether he's somehow plumbing dramatic depths with top-notch directors in films like "Punch Drunk Love," "Reign Over Me" and "Funny People," or just yukking it up with his comic pals, as he does here, he can be entertaining. Here, Robert Smigel ("SNL," "Conan") writes and directs this cute and funny take on a Billy-Joel-loving Long Island schmo cheaping out on his daughter's wedding to the son of a doctor. Disaster is inevitable.

Chris Rock is the doctor, who could write a check for everything and not even notice the rounding error. Rock just mostly wanders through this in a state of exasperation. Rachel Dratch is the secret weapon here as the always-on mother of the bride, and her shouting matches with Sandler heard from behind closed doors are a true highlight. Steve Buscemi has a lot of fun playing broad as Sandler's cousin, who sends ahead a surprise -- Uncle Seymour (Jim Barone) who now has two amputated legs.

It's all a made-for-Netflix mess, but Smigel packs it with sight-gags and amusing caricature. Sandler finds the seam between silliness and actual emotion. This one pushes two hours, so consider breaking it into two episodes.