TORONTO – For a comedy, chemistry is key. Sometimes your actors are talented enough to fake it. Sometimes they just spark organically. In the case of “Poetic License,” director Maude Apatow has been given a gift in the pairing of Cooper Hoffman and Andrew Barth Feldman. Two twentysomething actors who, along with the sublime Leslie Mann, turn this 2025 Toronto International Film Festival premiere into a charmfest.
Written by Raffi Donatich, “Poetic License’s” storyline is pretty straightforward. Sam (Feldman) and Ari (Hoffman) are two “best friends” entering their final year of college. The former has worked his a** off and is hoping to get a job at Goldman Sachs when he graduates. Ari, on the other hand, is a rich kid who lives in an impressively decorated, large off-campus apartment that is rare for any college senior, and who may be a little too co-dependent on his best buddy.
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On the flip side is Liz (Mann), who has just moved to this small town from Chicago with her husband James (Cliff “Method Man” Smith, underutilized) and high school senior daughter Dora (Nico Parker, wise beyond her years). James has landed a top position in the University’s economics department, but Liz is jobless and bored. She signs up to audit a poetry writing class taught by Professor Ellis (Martha Kelly, utterly hilarious), a class also being taken by Sam and Ari.
There is something about Liz that grabs both Sam and Ari’s attention, and slowly, but surely, the trio becomes casual friends. Meanwhile, Liz is having boundary issues with Dora, who is attempting to find a new social circle in a new town, late in her high school career. Speaking of careers, Liz has also given up her counseling practice in Chicago for her husband’s new gig and effectively become a stay-at-home mom for the first time. A little awkward when you have a 17-year-old daughter.
When Ari invites Liz over to his place to hang out, Sam randomly stops by, and they all partake of drinks and some hallucinogens. This leads to some late-night shenanigans, with Liz having something of a blast. But don’t twist it. No boundaries are crossed. These boys are too nice and respectful to allow that to happen.
Meanwhile, Dora is becoming suspicious of her mom’s new classmates, especially when she almost runs into her at a college-age party she’s crashing. Complicating matters even more is Sam’s girlfriend, Grace (Maisy Stella, sort of wasted), who can’t fathom why her boyfriend and Ari would want to hang out with Liz. It’s a little bit ageist, a little bit threatened. Which, to be fair, considering Sam has a crush on Liz too, she should be.
If there is any genuine disappointment in the movie, it is that Apatow and Donatich never let you believe this trio could remain friends (which, in real life, they absolutely could). The script telegraphs pretty early on that something is going to go wrong with these relationships, and, oh, yes, lessons will be learned. But it’s super funny, the performances are natural, and the whole endeavor is beyond charming. It’s a movie clearly meant to fit into the studio comedy mold, so it goes down easy.
It would be easy to pigeonhole Apatow as a filmmaker completely following in her father’s footsteps. That’s unfair and untrue. Perhaps in this case, the fact that her mother, Mann, also appears in a ton of Judd films, is on board, complicates matters. That being said, Maude is 27 years old. She’s worked in the business on all sorts of projects for a decade. Does she share her father’s inclination to stretch his films a good 15 minutes longer than they should be? Sure. But she also demonstrates a talent for drawing intimate moments from her actors that Judd has rarely, if ever, been able to pull off. The younger Apatow has her own voice, even if you wish there was a little less commercial sheen to it.
“Poetic” works, however, because of the trio at the center of it all. Hoffman, who has previously impressed, demonstrates leading man and comedic star potential under Apatow’s watch. Granted, he has five other credits to his name (including “The Long Walk,” which just hit theaters), but he’s never had a role like this, and he knocks it out of the park. This is Feldman’s first real showcase since 2023’s “No Hard Feelings,” and he continues to project a wisdom beyond his years, even when his character is at a loss over his own future. Feldman may be babyfaced, but he has the range. And Mann? She makes you root for a woman who proves that finding yourself is not an exercise limited to the young. You’ll want Liz to head back to Chicago and enjoy a couple late, late nights on the town, and that’s all Mann’s charisma shining through.
We would be remiss to not recognize the fact that this movie features three offspring of well-known cinema talents both in front of and behind the camera. Did Apatow cast Hoffman and Parker intentionally? Or is it just a coincidence? Color us curious, but it worked. [B]
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
