Carter (Adam Scott) has always been in the middle of his parents’, Hugh (Richard Jenkins) and Melissa (Catherine O’Hara), messy divorce. Carter’s brother, Trey (Clark Duke) is now getting married. Trey wants Carter to convince their parents to act civil and attend his wedding. Not an easy task.

To further complicate things, Hugh is now married to Sondra (Amy Poehler). Sondra owns the building where Carter has his restaurant, despite the fact that Carter and Sondra have never gotten along.

During his parent’s divorce, Carter visited Dr. Judith (Jane Lynch) to get therapy for dealing with the split. As it turns out, Dr. Judith was writing a book titled Children of Divorce. Carter had no idea that this book existed, or that he was a part of it. Now that Carter has come back to talk to her, Dr. Judith gets the idea to write a follow-up book, chronicling where all the subjects from the first book are now. The working title: Adult Children of Divorce (A.C.O.D.).

During the delicate negotiations to get Hugh and Melissa to attend Trey’s wedding, Carter stumbles upon a new piece of information that will throw the entire family dynamic into question.

A.C.O.D. is another of those movies that I had no idea what it was about going into it. (Sure, I had been sent the synopsis in a text with a list of movie choices to pick up from the RedBox. But I didn’t bother to read any of them.) I had no idea what to expect, except that Adam Scott was in it, so it had to be funny.

One thing I am not a fan of is a movie that bills itself as a comedy, but is, in all actuality, a dramedy, at best. (Or a full-on drama that has one or two “funny” lines in it. Have you seen The Break-Up?) This is one of those movies. Again, I didn’t really know what I was in for, but it was supposed to be a comedy. Not that there weren’t plenty of funny parts in it. The tone of the movie was just a bit heavier than expected.

If you put that aside, A.C.O.D. isn’t a bad movie. It has a great cast, and they work well together. Nick Adams and Richard Jenkins work well as a strained father/son duo. Add in the talented Catherine O’Hara, and there is a good dynamic there. Clark Duke could have been given a little more to do, though. I find him funny as an oddball character, but he has a relatively minor part. The story arc with Jane Lynch seems to be an unnecessary addition. Nonetheless, she plays the part exactly as you would expect.

As with most films of this nature, if you go into A.C.O.D. expecting a dramedy, you will be in a better position to enjoy this film. Overall, not a bad movie. Somewhat relatable (for some, not me, specifically), comedy-ish movie about strained family relationships.

The other RedBox choices I was given were a comedy and a chick flick. A.C.O.D. fits nicely in the middle.