Lonely, I’m Not

Second Stage Theatre

New York

(212) 246-4422

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Paul Weitz’s new play is a textbook modern romantic comedy, said Ben Brantley in The New York Times. But even if one too many Julia Roberts movies has led you to swear off the genre altogether, it’s hard not to root for the two mixed-up people in this story, especially as played by “a wonderfully matched, mismatched Topher Grace and Olivia Thirlby.” Grace plays Porter, a former corporate executive who suffered an unfortunately public nervous breakdown. A sympathetic friend sets him up with Heather (Thirlby), an ambitious workaholic who happens to be blind. Their romance follows the usual path, complete with “fraught back-stories and defining quirks and kinks.” But somehow these characters “wind up inspiring deep, protective affection in us.”

The stars are actually too good for Weitz’s hackneyed script, said Jeremy Gerard in Bloomberg.com. Their appeal only grows as their characters become aware of each other’s foibles, and they “throw off low-voltage but unmistakable sparks.” The other actors, including Mark Blum as Porter’s deadbeat dad and Lisa Emery as his overbearing mother, also elevate the material. And since those actors play multiple roles, “you’ve rarely seen a supporting cast be more supportive.” Yet the question remains: Do audiences really need another “facile comedy about upscale young people?”

Tucked within the well-worn formula are a few nice surprises, said Brendan Lemon in the Financial Times. Gloominess is an interesting trait in a rom-com, and these characters are still dealing with the 2008 financial collapse and “the spiritual malaise it left in its wake.” Weitz meanwhile treats Heather’s blindness with unexpected subtlety, showing how “small, daily condescension can be even more withering” than outright cruelty. It’s worthwhile, too, to see Grace’s impressive stage debut. Always “adept at characters who belie his surname,” the former star of That ’70s Show displays marvelous comic timing. Lonely, I’m Not is hardly a complex play. But its potent mix of laughs and timely bits of melancholy makes it stubbornly likable.