In the wake of their parents' separation, two Brooklyn brothers navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence under the shadow of their fractured family. Directed by Noah Baumbach, this raw and unflinching drama follows Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels), a pompous and fading novelist, and his wife Joan (Laura Linney), a burgeoning writer whose own success threatens their already strained marriage. Their older son, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg), a pretentious high schooler, idolizes his father and adopts his condescending literary snobbery, while his younger brother, Frank (Owen Kline), acts out with increasingly alarming behavior. As the boys are forced to split their time between their parents' separate homes, they become unwitting pawns in a bitter, petty custody battle that exposes the deep-seated insecurities and hypocrisies of everyone involved. Blending sharp, uncomfortable humor with a poignant coming-of-age story, the film captures the messy, painful, and often absurd process of growing up when the very foundation of your world has been pulled out from under you.