Brad’s Status

Unsure of his place in the grand scheme of things, Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) reevaluates his life choices while accompanying his prodigy son on a tour of Boston colleges. With a modest but comfortable life running a nonprofit business in Sacramento, he can’t shake the feeling that he’s been forgotten by friends: all successful types who do not get seated by the kitchen in restaurants. When his kid misses an admissions interview, an old friend intervenes on his behalf, bringing essential questions into focus. Stiller reflects the middle-aged man left off the list at gatherings who ponders re-entry into the idealism of youth that no longer guides his life. It’s an amazingly reserved performance about encroaching invisibility and redemption.

[R]