Mutual Appreciation

Alan, a musician, walks away from his collapsing band and moves to New York to start over musically. Once there, he tries to keep his attention on his work while dealing with a stream of distractions, among them his growing attraction to the girlfriend of a close friend. The situation forces him to balance ambition, friendship and romantic temptation as he settles into a new city and a new phase of his life.

Andrew Bujalski wrote and directed the film, which followed his 2003 debut Funny Ha Ha and came before Beeswax, Computer Chess and Support the Girls in his filmography. Justin Rice plays Alan, with Rachel Clift as Ellie and Bujalski himself appearing as Lawrence; Lee Seung-min and Pamela Corkey round out the main cast. The film was produced by Morgan Faust, Ethan Vogt and Dia Sokol, and runs 109 minutes.

The film's critical reception was notably stronger than its audience scores. It holds a critics' rating of 7.8/10 from 56 reviews, while on IMDb it sits at 6.7/10 from about 2,000 votes and on TMDB at 6/10 from 29 votes. The contrast suggests that reviewers responded more warmly to the film than general viewers did.