Capsule reviews for April 3

Fantasy Life

It might not break any new ground, but this at least this perceptive comedy about relationships and middle age deservingly spotlights a deeply felt performance by Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards). Sam (Matthew Shear) is a neurotic, unemployed New York paralegal who is recruited to babysit the children of a musician (Alessandro Nivola) and his wife (Peet), an actress who has struggled to get roles with age. She impulsively bonds with Sam with her husband away on tour, uncertain how their affair will upset her long-term family dynamics. The character-driven screenplay by Shear, who also directed, is layered with authenticity and nuance rather than contrivances. (Not rated, 91 minutes).

A Love Like This

As two affluent, jet-setting lovers agonize over an uncertain future in this romantic drama, moviegoers are more likely to remain indifferent about the fate of their partnership. Paul (Hayes MacArthur) and Leah (Emmanuelle Chriqui) are high-school sweethearts who are each married to different people. But they seem to be happier with each other, meeting for weekend getaways disguised as business trips for years. When they mutually decide to end the affair, however, letting go of their commitment stirs new emotions. With convincing chemistry, the two leads do their best to elevate a contrived screenplay that plays out more like a shallow fantasy than a serious relationship. (Not rated, 87 minutes).

Pizza Movie

One slice is more than enough to get a taste of this relentlessly silly and sophomoric stoner comedy that’s more exhausting than amusing. It chronicles the surreal overnight odyssey of social outcasts and college roommates Jack (Gaten Matarazzo) and Montgomery (Sean Giambrone), whose quest for acceptance and awkward romance includes mysterious hallucinatory pills, a vengeful frat boy (Marcus Scribner), a nerdy female sidekick (Lulu Wilson), a sadistic army of resident assistants, an anthropomorphic butterfly, a malfunctioning pizza-delivery robot, and their own exploding heads. Despite its go-for-broke audacity and mischievous throwback vibe, the film too often wallows in low-brow gags rather than being consistently fresh or saucy. (Rated R, 94 minutes).

The Stranger

Reverent to the source material yet injecting its own haunting mood, this black-and-white adaptation of the venerable Albert Camus novel from French director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool) is visually alluring and powerfully bleak. It’s set in the 1930s, when Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) is an office clerk during the French occupation of Algeria, on the cusp of revolution amid oppressive colonialism. Burdened by grief and driven by impulse, Meursault begins a violent and recklessly nihilistic downward spiral. Avoiding cheap catharsis, Ozon immerses us in the sociopolitical volatility of the setting while remaining intimately focused on the existential crisis of his troubled antihero, with uneven but fascinating results. (Not rated, 122 minutes).