MARRIAGE STORY (YOU HURT MY FEELINGS)

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Looking for a movie this summer that doesn't have a single shot fired, a punch up or a car chase?

Then head to Amazon Prime if you're living in the UK or Ireland. 

Nicole Holofcener's 'You Hurt My Feelings' is the kind of relationship comedy drama that New York directors like Woody Allen or Noah Baumbach also excel at.

Holofcener has been making movies and directing TV shows since 1991.

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Her first feature film was the acclaimed 1996 indie movie 'Walking and Talking' with Catherine Keener, Anne Heche and Liev Schreiber.

On the small screen, her TV credits include directing episodes of HBO's 'Sex and the City,' 'Six Feet Under' and NBC's 'Parks and Recreation'.

However Holofcener is probably best known for her 2013 romantic comedy 'Enough Said' with Julia Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini.

A film about two middle aged people tentatively falling in love, it was hailed by critics for being a really mature, sensitive comedy drama.

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Gandolfini and Dreyfus were so good in the film, many people felt their Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominated performances were unfairly overlooked in the Oscar nominations.

Ten years later, Dreyfus has teamed up again with the New York director for a movie that tackles the sensitivities at play in many relationships.

The star of 'Seinfeld' and 'Veep' plays Beth, a writer of a well received but moderately successful memoir about coping with her verbally abusive father.

Married to Tobias Menzies' Don, a psychiatrist who gets a hard time from his patients, she's struggling to write a novel - getting him to re-read draft after draft.

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Don is relentlessly supportive and when her literary agent, LaTanya Richardson Jackson's Sylvia is less than effusive about the novel, he even suggests she should find a new one 

Beth and Don seem to have a perfect relationship - supporting each other as they battle their neuroses, enthusiastically celebrating their wedding anniversary and sharing an ice cream in public in front of their easily embarrassed twentysomething son, Owen Teague's Eliot who works in a legalised cannabis store.

Don and Beth are close with her sister, Michaela Watkins' Sarah and her actor husband, Adrian Moayed's Mark.

On a day out with Mark and Sarah, Beth and her sister are walking through Manhattan following their husbands when they decide to sneak up behind them in a clothes store and eavesdrop on them just for laugh.

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Beth, however, is devastated to overhear Don tell Mark he doesn't like her novel or believe it is good enough, even though he keeps telling her each draft is great.

The anger and resentment this triggers jolts the marriage but can Beth and Don survive this setback?

After a summer of blockbusters, there's something refreshing about watching a solidly made, well acted intimate movie about everyday problems.

Holofcener's movie may be a bit of a talkfest but it works, thanks to a nicely observed screenplay and spirited performances.

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Beth and Don wallow in their middle class, midlife crises.

She suffers from imposter syndrome - a trait that is not helped by Don's white lies, her agent's less than enthusiastic comments about her work and a writing class whose students are unfamiliar with her work.

Beth is also an overprotective mother which is terrifically demonstrated in the funniest sequence in the movie during an armed robbery at her son's cannabis store.

Don is obsessed with his fading looks and also doubts about whether he is any good as a therapist.

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In one session, he tells one patient her actions are reminiscent of her father, only to realise he is talking about another client's dad.

Mark has a crisis of confidence tol as an actor.

Even Eliot has relationship woes exacerbated by his parents' displays of affection and he is also irritated by their relentless positivity about everything he does.

Holofcener delivers films about relatable people facing real life problems and she does that very well.

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But she also extracts excellent lead performances from Dreyfus and Menzies that really revel in their characters' insecurities and flaws as well as their acts of kindness.

Watkins, Moayed, Teague, Richardson Jackson and Jeanie Berlin as Sarah and Beth's mum Georgia provide sturdy support.

Special mention should go too to David Cross and Amber Tamblyn as an angry couple who spar during their couples' therapy sessions with Don and Zach Cherry as another grumpy client.

'You Hurt My Feelings' is one of those New York movies that is honest about its characters' shortcomings while celebrating their decency.

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It isn't the most flamboyant film you will see this year.

Nor will it be the funniest you'll see.

Nevertheless it is still an enjoyable watch for grown up audiences who value mature, lived in comedies.

Sometimes it's nice not to be treated as if you're a 12 year old with a mind that requires constant noise and spectacle.

So long may Holofcener continue to be given budgets to keep delivering movies like this.

('You Hurt My Feelings' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2023, was released in US cinemas on May 26, 2023 and on Amazon Prime in the UK and Ireland on August 8, 2023)