Mind the Gap

The lives of five heartbroken strangers—a free spirit from North Carolina, a Tucson accountant, a single father in Vermont, a Manhattanite widower and an Astoria-based singer-songwriter—intersect in writer, director and actor Schaeffer's formulaic but surprisingly affecting drama. To say that this is Schaeffer's most generous film verges on damnation by faint praise; smug self-centeredness is his calling card, and the story arc he gives himself is undone by his smarty-pants repartee and an insufferable child actor. King's grumpy-old-man shtick is gratingly clichéd, and the film is too long, but Schaeffer has crafted some complex roles for the rest of his ensemble cast.