Beginners

Beginners is a quirky comedy entwined in five cathartic love stories, mildly entertaining on a rainy afternoon. Ewan MacGregor, as a 38 year old artist, Christopher Plummer, as a recently out 75 year old dying of cancer, and Melanie Laurent, as a lonely french actress, all find love before the credits roll. It's easy to be sad and alone, but harder to find love and recognize what it feels like. Stylistically original, using long pauses to convey emotions, simplistic drawings to trace progressions, and newsreel repetitions for historical context, the film touches everything from family and death to Judaism and homosexuality between 1938 and 2003. There is even a talking, charismatic Jack Russell named Arthur. The Freud, Charlie Chaplin, laryngitis bit at the Halloween party seemed forced.
Overall, "You make me laugh but it's not funny."