Timothy Hutton, left, and Laila Robins share a scene in the mid-life-self-discovery-themed rom-com “Multiple Sarcasms.”
Jessica Miglio photo
“Multiple Sarcasms” tips its hat early to the kind of film it wants to be when it reveals its protagonist, a depressed architect played by Timothy Hutton, has been going to see the film “Starting Over” several times. That 1979 Burt Reynolds-Jill Clayburgh-Candice Bergen romantic comedy was the kind of mainstream film that, by no means a classic, looks like Ingmar Bergman compared to the rom-coms that Hollywood now squeezes out.
A first feature written and directed by industry veteran Brooks Branch, “Multiple Sarcasms” sounds like a comedy from the title but is a drama interlaced with just enough comic moments to keep it interesting. For a bit.