E-Mail This Article to a Friend THE BAXTER

91 MINUTES

NYC accountant Elliott Sherman (Michael Showalter) is a "Baxter," a pleasant enough schmuck whose girlfriends dump him for other men or, as the film begins, abandon him at the altar. In flashback, we learn how Elliot’s doubts about his fiancée (Elizabeth Banks), a high-maintenance fashion magazine editor, lead him to pursue a mousy office temp/lounge singer (Michelle Williams), with predictable results. Showalter, one of the creators of the hit-or-miss show Stella for Comedy Central, can write, act, and direct, but his paint-by-the-numbers script plays like Wes Anderson as envisioned by Robert McKee. The only laughs come from Paul Rudd and Peter Dinklage, in cameos; the rest of the talented New York cast sacrifice their credibility to the director’s off-kilter approach.