Michael Wiethorn’s new dramedy “A Little Help” is receiving some big help from comedy veteran and former The Office star Jenna Fischer wo plays Laura Pehlke, a Long Island dental hygienist who is dealing with a marriage in peril to her husband Bob (Chris O’Donnell) following the 9/11 attacks.
After a fatal heart attack to her husband she is faced with income cuts, a 12-year-old sun who’s mourning the loss of his father while attending a new school and a long lost connection with her brother-in-law.
Also featured on the show is an over bearing older sister (Brooke Smith), a sleazy attorney Mel Kaminsky (Kim Coates and mother Joan (Lesley Ann Warren) who is overbearing.
In a review of the show TheWrap wrote:
First-time writer-director Weithorn’s astute and sensitive script swings effortlessly from humor to pathos, tonal shifts that his actors navigate with subtlety and grace. Fischer’s performance and Weithorn’s honest writing allow her room for irresponsible behavior that audiences might object to in another movie but which only emphasize her vulnerability here.
Weithorn built a career as showrunner on “Ned and Stacey” and “King of Queens,” but thankfully, “A Little Help” in no way resembles a TV drama. Instead, it offers three-dimensional characters with detailed personality traits and vibrant inner lives and Weithorn’s script deftly employs subtext, subtlety and empathy. As director, he elicits memorable and natural performances from each of his cast members no matter their age or experience.
Does this sound like “Weeds” without the marijuana to anyone else?
Are you ready to see Jenna Fischer in a whole new light?
