The messy, non-linear process of grieving is always tough to capture meaningfully on screen—and there are definitely parts of Good Grief that trail off without much feeling or go on for too long without making new points. But the good still outweighs the bad in Dan Levy's directorial debut, with the inherent impracticality of death taking center stage. At a certain age when one has too much going on in life, grief can become just another responsibility that needs to be managed, that often clashes with the priorities of one's friends. The film just falls short of making truly astute insights into loss or crafting complete characters, but it's reassuring all the same in how ordinarily it views something so tragic.

Writer, director, producer, and star Dan Levy misjudges certain choices in his performance and occasionally strays into the realm of artificial emotion. But he's saved by a great cast of supporting actors whose work is all totally lived-in, no matter how briefly they appear. Ruth Negga gives the film's best performance, lively and spontaneous and radiating warmth, but also messy and lost in her own way. Himesh Patel and Celia Imrie provide sensible counterbalances, while criminally short appearances by a wildly dressed Emma Corrin and a hilarious Kaitlyn Dever bring much-needed comic relief. And in his first scene, David Bradley is so affecting that he might just inspire tears not 15 minutes into the movie.