written by: Amy Landecker
produced by: Amy Landecker, Bradley Whitford, Valerie Stadler, Jenica Bergere & James Portolese
directed by: Amy Landecker
rated: not rated
runtime: 90 min.
U.S. release date: February 27, 2026 (NY & L.A.) & March 6, 2026 (limited)

“For Worse” is a coming-of-middle-age rom-com that would’ve been better off leaning harder into its story’s dramedy. There’s fresh material to be mined here as a woman explores new territory after her divorce has been finalized. Instead of giving her space to figure this new stage in her life out, writer/director Amy Landecker drops the lead character (played by herself) into some rather unfunny fish-out-of-water sitcom situations, accompanied by some unrealistic, oddball characters. That’s unfortunate, considering Landecker’s undeniable charm as a performer keeps her directorial debut from falling apart.

When we meet Lauren (Landecker), she is sitting alongside her newly divorced ex, Chase (Paul Adelstein), in the Southern California office of their divorce mediator (Simon Helberg). They’ll still be co-parenting their young daughter, so their ties aren’t completely severed. It appears to be an amicable divorce, except that she’s alone while he’s in a new relationship with Sara (Angelique Cabral), a young, successful wellness influencer. Sara seems to be unusually upbeat about sharing motherhood duties in this new family dynamic, which will be something else Lauren’s patience will have to get used to.

Lauren could use a distraction from these new changes, and thankfully, she remembers that the first session of the acting class starts the same day her divorce is finalized. Encouraged by her best friend, Julie (a fun Missi Pyle), to reconnect with her passion for acting, 50-year-old Lauren finds herself surrounded by twentysomethings led by a high-strung teacher, Liz (Gaby Hoffman), which is strange considering most of them are there for work in commercials. Naturally, Lauren feels a little out of place, but finds a connection with her scene partner, Sean (Nico Hiraga), whom Julie will eventually consider a “smoke show”. He’s confident and chill, accepting Lauren without making a fuss about their age gap. Accepted as one of their own, Lauren is invited to her classmate Maria’s (Kiersey Clemmons) wedding in Palm Springs and winds up driving there with Sean. It feels more like a carpool experience than a date. Will the destination wedding be too soon for the newly-divorced and sober Lauren?

Surrounded by even more twentysomethings, most of whom she doesn’t know, Lauren does her best to feel comfortable even when she’s feeling even more out of place. She meets Maria’s mother, Debbie (Enuka Okuma), and her new husband, Chuck (Jay Locopo), as well as Maria’s father, Dave (Bradley Whitford), a dynamic that appears as awkward as it probably is. Dave will mention the wedding is taking place where he used to live at least twice during the evening. Much of what plays out is typical of most movie weddings. There’s dancing, and inevitable embarrassing drunken moments (anytime a character mentions their sobriety, you can count on them relapsing during the course of the movie), and an oddball, creepy magician named Ray (Ken Marino, playing a superfluous one-note character who’s in a more juvenile comedy), who unsuccessfully hits on Lauren. As the evening unfolds, the combination of Lauren’s intoxication and insecurity gets the best of her, which will eventually find her sitting alongside Dave outside of a nearby urgent care center.

The most interesting plotline throughout Landecker’s story involves the dynamic between Lauren and Sean. The two actors have a fun chemistry and work well together. The problem is convincing viewers that the two characters would even hook up – not should, mind you, but would. That’s because there’s barely any chemistry between the pair, not to mention that it feels like such a sudden move for Lauren. I’m no expert, but I don’t know anyone who would go from finalizing a divorce to starting a fling with a boy toy. It also doesn’t help that Hiraga, who’s spot-on in the role, looks like a teenager, and there are entirely too many scenes of females flocking to him and over him. I don’t see it, and it definitely feels like the movie is overselling his supposed sex appeal. My bet is Lauren hasn’t had sex with anyone in a while, so she wants to just go for it, but there’s nothing leading up to the moment that would make me believe that, nor does Landecker offer any time to establish that for her character. Therefore, any attempts at intimacy will feel forced or wrong.

That being said, Landecker has a knack for writing Lauren as she enters this new territory, showing how this major shift at this point in her life is impacting every area of her life. This is especially seen when Lauren visits Sean’s place for the sole purpose of casual sex. While engaging in foreplay on Sean’s roll-out bed, his tickling makes Lauren laugh a bit too hard, resulting in an uncontrollable wet spot. It’s the rare funny and embarrassing moment in “For Worse” that feels very relatable, like we’re actually watching real people rather than rom-com stereotypes.

Once the Palm Springs wedding reception kicks in, “For Worse” falls to an unfortunate formula. There’s the expected party atmosphere, where Lauren’s self-esteem is put to the test as Sean basically ghosts her. He doesn’t realize it; he’s actually being a “nice guy” and helping out the bridal party, but his attention is elsewhere, leaving Lauren feeling alone and essentially like a wedding crasher.

The final act attempts to recapture the fumbled charm in the final 30 minutes, but it’s almost too little, too late. We see Lauren making an inevitable, tentative (and projected) connection with the salty Dave (the “introducting Bradley Whitford” above the movie’s title on the poster elicits a chuckle, considering he and Landecker are married in real life), and it makes you wish that had happened earlier in the movie to give the two characters time to gradually find each other. Considering Lauren has a lot more common ground with Dave than anyone else she meets, this potential friendship winds up being the more intriguing one offered in the movie.

Landecker’s presence as an actor has always been welcome, and throughout her long career, she’s shown an impressive range. Wearing a lot of different hats for “For Worse” is impressive, and I wouldn’t mind seeing her take the helm again, but maybe next time, a writing collaborator can help prune and polish a story that offers more character authenticity and believability.

RATING: **