I reviewed Fantasy Life for Slant Magazine:
Writer-director Matthew Shear’s Fantasy Life is an initially familiar-feeling rom-com about urbane yet nerve-rattled characters that eventually, but just barely, transcends expectations. A law school dropout who appears constantly shell-shocked by the concussions of everyday life, Sam (Shear) is first seen getting fired from his impossibly bleak office job before having a panic attack at a bookstore. With seemingly few prospects, he takes on a job as a manny for the children of a wealthy couple, Dianne (Amanda Peet) and David (Alessandro Nivola). Sam almost immediately falls headlong for Dianne, an ex-actor suffering from different but similarly debilitating and career-stifling mental health issues…
Here is the trailer:
“Really, Sam and Dianne? Those are the names Shear went for?” ponders the couple who couldn’t help but end up with the names of animated burger joint proprietors, but I’ve a hunch that the TV-watching mains touch on that as a minor plot point, else why not? Looking forward to watching and finding out. Unless “manny” is in the film’s newspaper want-ads (ah yeah, indulge my moment of mental time travel, apologies) alongside listings for “doctorettes” and the like, in which case nah, I’d just spend the rest of my time in the theater grumbling about needless gendering…