For Worse, 2026.
Written and Directed by Amy Landecker.
Starring Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Nico Hiraga, Gaby Hoffmann, Ken Marino, Missi Pyle, Kiersey Clemons, Liv Hewson, Claudia Sulewski, Simon Helberg, Paul Adelstein, Lilli Kay, Angelique Cabral, Jay Lacopo, Josh Zuckerman, Spencer Rayshon Stevenson, Briana Venskus, Rizwan Manji, Carlos Valdes, Enuka Okuma, Paris Berelc, Liz Larsen, Hannah Pilkes, and Spencer Watson.
SYNOPSIS:
A newly divorced sober mom goes to a wedding with a much younger date and behaves like a drunk 25 year old bridesmaid to try and keep up.
Starring in her feature-length debut as a writer/director, Amy Landecker’s midlife crisis relationship rom-com For Worse could have been worse. It’s not exactly great, either, with a wedding one couldn’t possibly care less about and can’t wait to leave.
In the role of Lauren, the triple-duty-pulling star has recently gone through a divorce and is adapting to coparenting alongside a former flame who is now dating a much younger, hippie-like meditative woman. Fortunately for Lauren, she begins to develop something (that could also turn out to be nothing) with the good-looking Sean (Nico Hiraga), who is in her acting class where the big dream is to get booked in commercials shilling whatever product opportunity comes their way.
Lectured by the eccentric Liz (Gaby Hoffmann), the messages that even if advertising is considered a low-rent form of performance art, for 30 seconds, a talent still gets to act and eventually see themselves on television, meaning there is more than enough reason to take pride in it. There is certainly something here about pursuing something what is passionate about regardless of age, life status, or what could come from it, but the whole acting class is more of a background subplot. It’s a simple wraparound device to eventually demonstrate that there is always a new fulfilling chapter in life around the corner.
Nevertheless, the rehearsing between Lauren and Sean takes a flirtatious turn possibly blending reality and acting. When one of their peers, Maria (Kiersey Clemons), invites the two to her wedding (which allows for some pleasant LGBTQ inclusivity as she is getting married to a woman with a non-binary best friend partaking in the ceremony), it is the first test to see if there is some real sparks within this age-gap friendship. Sean also promises that he won’t leave Lauren behind at the ceremony.
It’s not that it’s hard to believe a young man would end up getting caught up hanging out with women his age (one in particular played by Claudia Sulewski that Lauren feels threatened by considering her beauty, youth, and immediate interest in him), but that it is a screenwriting crutch that Sean breaks his promise within about ten minutes. This means that the film also doesn’t necessarily have anywhere to go but watch Lauren forced into interacting with others at this wedding that we don’t know or care about, such as Ken Marino as a lonely magician desperate for love, getting a bit creepy angling for a BDSM dynamic at one point (he doesn’t care which role he fulfills there). Neither party getting married or anyone involved in the ceremony is especially interesting (wasting rising talent like Kiersey Clemons and Liv Hewson). Bradley Whitford is also at this party as recent divorcee Dave, and once he is introduced there is a sense of where this is all headed.
There also isn’t anything egregiously or obnoxiously bad about For Worse; it’s a sweet story, in theory, that is also flat and a bit dull even at 90 minutes. Any Landecker is solid as a confused, walking disaster unsure of where she is going in life and what she is doing at this party with Sean, and she does have chemistry with the charming Nico Hiraga, who is kind and supportive while not phased that she is an older mother. There is a rehearsal scene where they attempt making out in his bedroom (before the wedding) that is cut short due to something happening with Lauren’s body that is played for laughs and certainly amusing, but also touching in that he isn’t bothered by it and doesn’t let it ruin the night.
Perhaps that plays into why the film becomes frustrating when it does a 180 on Sean’s character’s sensitivity and thoughtfulness, separating him from Lauren at the wedding in the process. It leads to a blowup moment in which Lauren exclaims that if the genders were reversed, no one would bat an eye at their age gap, which is true to an extent; that point has been made in recent movies over and over, so it’s not fresh insight.
Sure, there is still the occasional funny moment (Lauren finds herself playing off something awkward as rehearsing when someone checks on her), and where the story goes is logical in terms of familiar happy-ending romantic comedies. However, too much of For Worse feels like it’s filling time with a substandard plot that is the depth of drunk moves on the dance floor.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
