Chris Pine in dad mode? The multiverse is healing.
A divorced doctor’s carefully constructed life in Cleveland is upended when his daughter’s debate aspirations and the unexpected return of a past love force him to confront his own choices and embrace a second chance.
Acting
Pine finally plays vulnerable instead of hot guy with secret trauma.
Writing
Debate scenes that actually crackle—rare for movie teenagers.
Direction
Lambert finds poetry in Cleveland winters. Who knew?
Director
Rachel Lambert
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Rachel Lambert developed this during the 2020 lockdown, originally imagining it as a stage play set entirely in a car. The carousel motif came later when she found an abandoned one in Cleveland's Euclid Beach Park.
This quietly kicked off the 'Rust Belt Renaissance' in romantic cinema—studios finally realized middle-class Midwesterners also have feelings and streaming subscriptions.
US
