Details are not one of Wish You Were Here’s strengths. Stiles and Carlino explain Adam’s condition in broad, vague strokes, the same ones used to explain Charlotte’s general discontent with her life. The setting is equally bland. Filmed in Paterson, New Jersey, you wouldn’t know it from the narrative. There are no recognizable landmarks, no traffic save for one minivan, no residents outside those with speaking roles.

In another movie, one that moves at a much speedier clip than this,…

The story revolves around Piper and her 17-year-old brother, Andy (Billy Barratt). Both are orphaned when their dad dies suddenly—and maybe mysteriously—in the shower. The two are placed in the foster care of Laura (Sally Hawkins), a quirky woman living with her stuffed dog, a house cat and another orphaned child. His name is Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a selective mute with eyes so sinister only a Satanic priest would love them. I guess Andy hasn’t seen The Omen, because…

those old movies? The ones where a couple drives down the road, only they aren’t driving, they’re sitting in a car on some studio lot. And that’s not a road behind them; it’s a rear projection of road. Looks fake doesn’t it?

Did this fakery bother audiences back then? Not in the slightest. Back in the 1920s, ’30s and even into the ’40s, movies were about beautiful people living in fabulous mid-city apartments, dressing glamorously, saying the right thing…