''A.C.O.D.'' is a 2013 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Stu Zicherman, based on a script by Zicherman and

Ben Karlin Ben Karlin (born c. 1971) is an American television producer and writer. He has won eight Emmy awards, and is best known for his work in ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' and ''The Colbert Report''. He is one of three co-creators of ''The Colbe ...

, and starring Adam Scott,

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...

Jessica Alba Jessica Marie Alba ( ; born April 28, 1981) is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in '' Camp Nowhere'' and '' The Secret World of Alex Mack'' (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 ...

and

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recogni ...

. The title of the film is an abbreviation for Adult Children of Divorce. Teddy Schwarzman produced the film through his Black Bear Pictures production company. Other stars include

Richard Jenkins Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor who is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series '' Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his career in theater at the Tri ...

Mary Elizabeth Winstead Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Her first significant role was that of Jessica Bennett (Passions), Jessica Bennett on the NBC soap opera ''Passions'' (1999–2000). She went on to appear in se ...

and

Catherine O'Hara Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her comedy work on ''Second City Television'' (1976–84) and ''Schitt's Creek'' (2015–2020) and in films such as '' After Hours'' (1985), ''Beetleju ...

, with

Ken Howard Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in ''1776'' and as basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the television show '' The Whit ...

and

Clark Duke Clark Duke (born May 5, 1985) is an American actor, comedian, and director known for his roles in the films '' Kick-Ass'', ''Sex Drive'', and ''Hot Tub Time Machine'', as well as playing Clark Green in the TV series ''The Office'', Dale Kettlew ...

in supporting roles. The film was released in the U.S. on October 4, 2013.

Premise

A content and successful man decides to revisit a former counselor to make sense of his brother's wedding and his parents' extremely messy divorce. When he realizes his life has been personified in a book about children of divorce written by his mediocre counselor, he decides to confront his family about their dysfunctional nature.

Cast

* Adam Scott as Carter Spencer *

as Hugh Spencer, Carter's father *

as Melissa, Carter's mother *

as Lauren Stinger, Carter's girlfriend *

as Trey Spencer, Carter's brother *

as Dr. Lorraine Judith *

as Sondra Spencer, Carter's stepmother and landlord *

as Gary, Carter's stepfather * Valerie Tian as Keiko Kobayashi *

as Michelle *

Adam Pally Adam Saul Pally (born March 18, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring as Max Blum in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' and as Dr. Peter Prentice in ''The Mindy Project''. He also starred ...

as Mark Several cast additions were reported in ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'': Jenkins (December 7, 2011), Lynch (February 10), Winstead (March 1), Poehler (March 8). On March 20, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported the Howard and Duke joined the cast. Pally's addition was reported in ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' on March 21.

Production

Filming began on March 12, 2012 in Atlanta's

Castleberry Hill Castleberry Hill is a neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, adjacent to and southwest of Downtown Atlanta. It is a federally recognized historic district since 1985 and became a City of Atlanta Landmark District in 2006. History The area in the cit ...

area. It has done some filming at the

Atlanta Botanical Garden The Atlanta Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located adjacent to Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Incorporated in 1976, the garden's mission is to "develop and maintain plant collections for the purposes of display, ...

. Scenes were also shot in Decatur at the end of the month. By early April, filming had taken place in

Buckhead Buckhead is the uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the Atlanta city limits, behind Downt ...

and near

Lake Lanier Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee Ri ...

. Alba got

temporary tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing proc ...

s of a trio of roses on her left

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join ...

and a bow on her

tailbone The coccyx ( : coccyges or coccyxes), commonly referred to as the tailbone, is the final segment of the vertebral column in all apes, and analogous structures in certain other mammals such as horses. In tailless primates (e.g. humans and othe ...

for her role in the film from an Atlanta-based artist.

Reception

''A.C.O.D.'' received mixed reviews from critics. Film review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 52% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 58 reviews, with an average score of 5.49/10. The site's consensus states: "Despite its impressive cast and some sharp observations, ''A.C.O.D.'' is neither funny enough nor poignant enough to work as a potent comedy or incisive satire." While

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

had the same type of mixed criticism for the film, the site also roundly praised the performances of Poehler, Lynch, and O'Hara, stating that the film featured "three major comic actresses working at their best level here." Furthermore, the site commended Zicherman's writing and directing, stating that " s first film is a model of what a modern film comedy might be." Manohla Dargis of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' Movie Review, however, criticized the film as "clichéd" and "sluggish even at 87 minutes." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 50 based on 23 reviews, considered to be "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* *
A.C.O.D.
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' * * * * {{mojo title, acod 2013 films 2013 comedy films 2010s English-language films American comedy films Black Bear Pictures films Films about divorce Films about dysfunctional families Films shot in Atlanta The Film Arcade films 2010s American films