Penned by Westfeldt ("Kissing Jessica Stein") and directed by Robert Cary ("Anything But Love"), the new Breakout Pictures movie gets a limited release by Magnolia Pictures in New York and Los Angeles. It will open wider in weeks to follow.
The film is billed as a "sweet, hilarious and slightly subversive romantic comedy," according to production notes. The story follows two strangers — a "brilliant, neurotic, Jewish [man with] so many issues he can't fit them into 12 years of analysis" and "a free spirit who works in a gym and is better at solving her friends' problems than selling memberships" — who "fall in love, meet each other's parents and decide to get married, all in a few breathless hours."
Messina (Salome, Far Away) and Westfeldt ("Notes from the Underbelly") star as the unlikely couple. The cast also features a number of stage veterans including Murphy, Frances Conroy, Judith Light, Jason Alexander, Robert Klein, David Margulies, Darrell Hammond, Brad Bellamy, Kali Rocha, Ilana Levine, Marylouise Burke and Michael McGrath.
The R-rated, 105-minute feature appeared in the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2006, where it earned the Audience Award for Best Feature, and at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival 2007, earning Westfeldt the Best Actress honor.
To view a trailer and find more information, including show times, visit the official website at iraandabby.com.