Fleishman holds the mirror up to us all

This whip-smart adaptation of the bestselling novel cuts artfully close to the bone, says Harriet Addison

- Harriet Addison

I'M getting out of a marriage to a woman who wouldn't let me pee standing up. I have some healing to do". The eminently quotable . Toby Fleishman is a 41-year-old successful hepatologist in a Manhattan hospital, father of two, ginormous disappointment to his ex-wife Rachel, and a newly-single dating app junkie. The novel of the same name, an extraordinary debut by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, was published in 2019 and it translates superbly to screen. Jesse Eisenberg is well cast as Toby, delivering the erudite, witty and carefully considered dialogue in his dork-charm style. The screenplay is amped up by the cast which also includes Claire Danes, Adam Brody and Lizzy Caplan, who plays his old friend Libby - also the narrator.

Toby Fleishman is our damaged, yet slightly superior hero. The chasm between 'poor Toby' and 'evil Rachel' seems initially reflected in their children - sweet, sensitive, kind Solly, and Hannah, whose cutting looks clearly mean "You f***ing idiot".