Comet

Just when you think you're about to fall for this fuzzy sci-fi romance, it disappears into its own navel.

Justin Long is a fine actor, but you have to like him a lot to get through "Comet," Sam Esmail's trippy, overly mannered romance.

Watching a not-very-interesting couple break up is one thing; watching them break up and get back together numerous times in different universes and dimensions is, well ... to paraphrase "Jaws," I'm going to need a bigger popcorn bag.

Its conceits ... get in the way of its characters, making it feel fussy and convoluted when it aims for something more simple and elegant.

Yes, some of it is overwritten and a bit too clever for its own good, but more often it's an engaging character piece.

These occasionally obnoxious, certainly neurotic young lovers have beating, sometimes broken hearts, and that, as the apostle Paul once noted, tends to trump all.

There's a lot of gorgeous, sci-fi inspired cinematography here by Eric Koretz, but none seem as intriguing as the ones depicting Kimberly's face or Dell's gaze as he watches her.

An ambitious and striking effort.

Tedious romantic dramedy with a pointless sci-fi tinge that has nothing in the least bit memorable to say about anything at all.

The performances are commendable and the zippy, back-and-forth dialogue is consistently enjoyable.

Handsome but needlessly gimmicky.

A sense of laborious, futile strain comes off this phoney-baloney indie, which looks and sounds very much like an attempt to fashion a more amenable (and thereby saleable) version of Shane Carruth's puzzle pictures.