Lies of the little white variety are one of life's most useful social lubricants. Let's say your loved one asks you how they look, or how you like this gift they've brought, or this steaming slice of broccoli pie they just set before you. Are you really going to feel a need to muster honest answers to such questions? To volunteer that the loved one looks a little drawn, to be honest; that the unsolicited gift will immediately disappear into some seldom-visited drawer; that broccoli is the devil's vegetable? No, you're not going to say any of those things. You're going to lie.
Is there any good reason not to? That's the question writer-director Nicole Holofcener contemplates in her new movie, You Hurt My Feelings. It's a small question, and the picture is appropriately small-scale. But the issue it deals with is real, which is what keeps you tuned in to its modestly funny, low-key story.
