Justin Theroux (above right). It’s a sort of barbed love story about the pathologically bitter author of a popular children’s book series (Billy Crudup, above left) forced to team up with a new illustrator (Mandy Moore) after his best friend and creative collaborator (Tom Wilkinson) suddenly passes away.

It’s well directed, very idiosyncratic but totally genuine, and the characters
leave deep footprints. I’m a big fan of Crudup’s, and while the neurotic
misanthrope is a tried-and-true character of a certain brand of cinema, I
thought there was a sincerity and attention to detail in his performance that helps make the entire movie really sing. And Moore was
great too; she was good in American Dreamz, but definitely more in her comfort zone. This is flat-out her best performance… one so good that it made me forget
she was ever “first” a singer. Dedication opens in late August in New York and Los Angeles, and goes wide September 14, from the Weinstein Company.