The opening shot of Dustin Guy Defa’s micro-drama “The Adults” feels like an outtake from a Wes Anderson film, as the camera remains fixed on a standard-issue business hotel room — single bed, nightstand, small desk, unmemorable art, walls painted in a sickly brown — while Michael Cera’s Eric enters and settles in. He tosses his duffel bag on the bed, takes out a smart speaker, cues up some music, connects his laptop, throws open the curtains to reveal a view of autumnal trees and a wall, and there we have it. We’re in Indie Realistic Cinema territory, folks, and it’s more than likely there will be some deadpan humor, some achingly twee moments, some (we hope) smart dialogue and ultimately one or two quietly powerful revelations.
Check marks all around. Writer-director Defa has delivered a small and quietly compelling low-key gem filled with offbeat characters who are perfectly normal — which means they’re kind of odd. The 35-year-old Cera, natural and authentic, plays a variation on his likable sad-sack persona in that Eric still dresses like a college student and seems likable and unassuming, but he has an unnervingly direct manner that borders on rudeness, and there’s a sadness permeating his demeanor. He also lies so effortlessly it’s disarming, as when he tells his sisters he won’t be spending his first night in town with them because he’s going to visit his friend Scott (Christopher Denham) who has just welcomed a baby, and then he tells Scott he’s going to spend the night with his sisters.
