IF this film accurately depicts the way urban middle-class Americans deal with relationships, then God help America. Blessing her won’t be enough.

In Jennifer Westfeldt’s third film as writer, producer and actor – and her first as director – Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Westfeldt), living in separate apartments in the same building, have been platonic best pals since early teens.

Their married best friends have children. It seems a good thing for them to do the same without marrying or even cohabiting. Their agreement about parenting little Joe is scrupulously fair and works okay. But on a group skiing weekend, dinner-table conversation rips holes in a few relationships.

What follows works hard to make useful observations. Julie moves from a high-rent Manhattan apartment to a cheaper Brooklyn one. We can see what’s coming and indeed it does. It’s a mistake. Jason may have fathered Joe but he’s bad news in a relationship and always will be.

Small good things are scattered through the film. Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig are a useful team to energise any rom-com. And Adam Scott does well as a character whom we should pity more for his inadequacies than excoriate him for his behaviour. Jason just doesn’t get it. Julie, silly girl, lets him have his wicked, if pleasurable, way.

At all cinemas