Struggling for the same vibe as male-bonding comedies like “Diner,” “Growing Up & Other Lies” instead feels like a really long beer commercial, except beer commercials usually contain at least one witty idea.
Josh Lawson plays a failing painter planning to give up on New York City and move back into his dad’s basement in Ohio. To send him off, his three buds (Adam Brody, Wyatt Cenac, Danny Jacobs) join him for a daylong hike down the length of Manhattan to banter about girlfriends, old times and why one of them ruined another’s possessions with a fire extinguisher.
It’s a talky movie in which no one has much to say: just dull chatter about dealing with the realities of adult life, attempted “Seinfeld”-style whimsy, and heavy reliance on catchphrases like “Boom!” and “You’re welcome.” Jacobs, who co-wrote and co-directed with Darren Grodsky, should have cut every line that wasn’t funny or insightful, though that would have left a movie that was 30 seconds long.