Ira & Abby

The plot mostly centers on Messina and Westfeldt's troubled relationship: He agrees to their spontaneous marriage mostly out of a desire to change his pathetic life, while she's a ditzy woman-child, babbly and uninhibited, but so unstintingly sweet that she generates a trail of adoring fans. She also still lives with her effervescent hippie-dippie parents (Fred Willard and Frances Conroy), who mix oddly with Messina's cold-fish folks (Robert Klein and Judith Light). A great deal of unpleasantness ensues, as Messina becomes jealous ("I can't believe you won therapy," he grouses after Westfeldt works her magic on their marriage counselor) and Westfeldt, true to her childish character, cries a lot. Meanwhile, her dad and his mom launch a torrid affair. (Willard is a consistently hilarious comedian, but was anyone really begging to see him shirtless and shiny with post-coital sweat?)

For a good half of its length, Ira & Abby is a dire collection of re-heated Allenisms, presented in unimaginative sitcom framing, and coasting mostly on Westfeldt's bubbly magnetism. But as the arguments get more manic, the tone sharpens toward farce, the editing gets livelier, the obnoxiousness melts into glorious chaos, and it becomes easier to take the whole thing as a satire rather than a poisonous love story. It's still a mixed bag with a lot of cutesy awfulness to wade through, but the acerbic ending is enough of a punchline to suggest that Westfeldt understands what a joke this kind of film can be.

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