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A new baby forces Tom (Zach Braff) to move to his wife’s hometown in Ohio. There he reluctantly joins the dementedly peppy crew at the ad agency run by his father-in-law (the wonderfully deadpan Charles Grodin). Jesse Peretz’s featherweight film is two parts workplace comedy to one part domestic piffle: Tom immediately butts heads with Chip (Jason Bateman), the wheelchair-bound agency golden boy who once dated Tom’s wife (Amanda Peet). The torturous passive-aggressive humiliations Chip piles on Tom are the film’s best laughs, but even that welcome streak of meanness can’t quite elevate this from the slackerish-fish-out-of-water vibe that marks much of Braff’s work. He does his best to look comically put-upon, but Grodin, Bateman and a mouthy neighbor kid run rings around the star. [capsule review] 
This article appears in May 17-23, 2007.
