Fantasy Life

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2:15

Fantasy Life

R

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1h 31m

Romance

Comedy

Drama

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80%

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56 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

An anxious law school dropout (Matthew Shear) stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters and falls for the girls' mother (Amanda Peet), an actress in a rocky marriage. A smart, New York-set romantic comedy co-starring Alessandro Nivola, Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban, Andrea Martin, Zosia Mamet, and Holland Taylor. Winner of the SXSW Narrative Feature Audience Award.

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

2d

A modest yet amusingly spiky round trip from Manhattan to Martha’s Vineyard, it has the trappings of a rom-com but a trickier soulfulness about its unlikely connection.

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Matt Zoller Seitz

RogerEbert.com

6d

3/4

The top-to-bottom cast of proudly eccentric actors ... ensures that every scene has moments of truth, and the filmmaker’s empathy pushes the movie over the finish line.

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Peter Travers

The Travers Take

Mar 27

3/4

Amanda Peet fans rejoice! This tale of broken connections returns this acting sorceress to films, after 10 years, playing an aging star out to restart her career and her love life. She’s funny and fierce in all the right places.

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Mike McGranaghan

Aisle Seat

12h

3/4

Amanda Peet has been doing fine work in film and television for decades, but her performance in Fantasy Life is a particular highlight.

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Sean P. Means

The Movie Cricket

13h

2.5/4

Shear doesn’t have any particularly probing observations about this world, but one senses he only needs one or two more movies under his belt to get there.

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Rob Thomas

Not That Rob Thomas (Substack)

1d

3/4

"Fantasy Life" doesn’t outstay its welcome, but it’s enough to make an impression both for Shear as a new filmmaker to watch and for Peet as a familiar face to see a new light.

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Martin-Melissa G

13h

Well acted and filmed. The script wasn't sure what it wanted to be. Two folks lost, but neither a resolution at the end nor a debatable suggestion at different paths it could have been. Fine to not have a "Hollywood" ending, but didn't have a well thought to "Indy" ending either. Appears to have no arc at the end. The last few scenes at the end fell flat. Really close swing, but was a "miss" for us.

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EW

Mar 29

Cast was great. Would have liked a few more laughs but poignant, relatable in many ways, good film.

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TD

Mar 28

Outstanding movie with excellent script and compelling characters. Wonderful performances by Amanda Peet and Alessandro Nivola.

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eli

Mar 25

The kissing scenes and the story

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Joe C

@JoeinAtl 5h

A very sweet story that doesn't really go anywhere but still leaves you with a good feeling. Extremely New York centric and quite Jewish. The kid actors are quite cute but in the end aren't a huge part of it all.

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Elliot G.

@eglassman11 7h

This was just a little bit too dry for me. The film doesn’t go anywhere.

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Matthew Shear

Director

Amanda Peet

Dianne

Matthew Shear

Sam

Alessandro Nivola

David

Judd Hirsch

Fred

Bob Balaban

Lenny

Fantasy Life: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

An anxious law school dropout (Matthew Shear) stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters and falls for the girls' mother (Amanda Peet), an actress in a rocky marriage. A smart, New York-set romantic comedy co-starring Alessandro Nivola, Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban, Andrea Martin, Zosia Mamet, and Holland Taylor. Winner of the SXSW Narrative Feature Audience Award.

Director: Matthew Shear
Producer: Charlie Alderman, Christopher Dodds, Amanda Peet, Phil Keefe, Emily McCann Lesser, David Bernon, Sam Slater
Screenwriter: Matthew Shear
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Production Co: Prospect Avenue, Burn Later Productions, Made By Limbo, AC3 Media, Charlie's Production Company
Rating: R (Brief Drug Use|Some Sexual References|Language)
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 27, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 1h 31m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.66:1)

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