Calm down dears, it’s not for jumping out of a plane at the Olympics

The potential break-down of a marriage is rarely imagined as an area ripe for hilarity. To debut writer-director Dan Mazer, however, it’s rib-tickling gold. Those moments of crippling doubt as you wonder whether you’ve made a mistake; side-splitting! The anguish you feel over your attraction somebody else; uproarious! So, how does Mazer attempt to justify humour in the heartbreak? It’s easy, really – he simply writes protagonists so unlikeable that the audience never cares about them in the first place.

Please don’t be shit.

Reader! Would you like to be able to write convincing clichés about films which are genuinely able to inspire laughter and tears in successive heartbeats? If you would, please keep your sordid phrases well away from Barney’s Version, a work of art which will stay with you long after the lights go up. An uncommonly captivating tale with memorable performances all round, it is superb.

Kids, eh? Snorting, slurping, farting, chewing little bundles of joy that they are. Motherhood explores a day in the life of a typical Noo York mom, as she attempts to juggle her responsibilities as well as write a piece that explains ‘what motherhood means to her’. Sound a little schmaltzy? Yeah. It is. Uma Thurman natural charm almost saves this piece, but at the end of the day it’s a little to wrapped up itself to be memorable.