‘Lucy Schulman’ Review: Failure to Launch Never Seemed So Wholesome

Lucy Schulman really does not have much going on. Her life is not particularly special, and it could even be argued that she was not worth making a film about. But it takes longer than it should to come to that realization, because “Lucy Schulman” is so pleasant to watch.

Comedian Ellie Sachs writes and directs this Tribeca premiere, which is deeply rooted in the stereotypical indie film tropes about creative types who can’t quite get their lives together. There’s nothing catastrophically wrong with her eponymous protagonist: Lucy seems nice enough, has a distinct sense of style, and is witty enough to keep up with her very New York friend group that contains a healthy mix of genuine achievers and very cool posers.

She doesn’t have many outwardly toxic traits of delusions of grandeur, but her world is quite small. She knows that she likes literature, but she spends a lot more time dating writers than actually writing. She works in an independent bookstore, but she’s hardly a model employee. And her friends are always inviting her to things, but she tends to blow them off for whoever she’s dating at the moment.

Keyboard muscle memory makes it tempting to write that her life “comes crashing down” after she suffers a bad breakup with a cheating author (Hasan Minaj) in the opening scene. But given how little she already had and how much of a support system existed below her, her fall from grace was less of a crash than a stumble down two or three steps.

That support system largely consists of her father Peter (David Cross), who raised Lucy by himself and now shares the kind of loving (if codependent) relationship that most parents dream of having with their adult children. Every time Lucy goes through a breakup, she moves back into her childhood bedroom, and Peter is always there to pick up the pieces. Cross plays Peter as a man without a single rough edge; he’s endlessly loving, accommodating of every fuck up and understanding of outburst that Lucy throws at him. No matter what the day throws at them, he’s so happy to be spending time with his daughter that it’s impossible to shake his good mood.

The plot of “Lucy Schulman” is incredibly simple. Lucy falls for a new guy, temporarily alienates her friends and father in the process, and realizes that she can’t start figuring out what she wants to do with her life until she learns that it’s okay to be alone. The film is most notable for its tone, which treats these manageable first world problems with all the seriousness they deserve — which is to say, almost none.

Anyone whose media diet will lead them to a film like “Lucy Schulman” will have already seen these plot points dozens, if not hundreds, of times before. Sachs refreshingly seems to understand that, and while the film is too sincere to ever be considered a subversion of these artist-comes-of-age-in-New-York tropes, it has the decency to not lie to us about their severity. “Lucy Schulman” unfolds in a world where misunderstandings are easily clarified, tummy aches are seen as real problems, everyone understands when you have to cancel plans, and fathers unconditionally love their daughters who appreciate them right back. What the film lacks in ambition, it makes up for with pleasant vibes and wholesome entertainment.

Films like this primarily exist as showcases for their leads, and Sachs demonstrates plenty of comedic charisma that makes it easy to visualize a future that’s filled with roles on premium cable sitcoms and guest essays in The New Yorker. And her admirable restraint as a director suggests that she’s as in on the joke as the rest of us: nobody needed another movie like “Lucy Schulman,” and it’s even getting harder for their protagonists to convince themselves that their situations are unique, but some of us still love watching them.

That bubbly self-awareness ensures that cinephiles who grew up watching “Frances Ha” will be as comforted by “Lucy Schulman” as rom-com lovers are by Hallmark Christmas movies. The stakes of each scene feel so low that you could comfortably walk out of the room for any half-hour period and not miss much, but you’ll undeniably enjoy whatever scene you walk back into.

Grade: B-

“Lucy Schulman” premiered at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.