‘Their Town’ Review: A Familiar but Lovely Coming-of-Age Tale from Katie Aselton and the Duplass Family

Between exploring new interests, engaging with new styles and making new friends, our young years are a searching pursuit of identity, and thus one of cinema’s enduring topics. That quest is very much at the heart of director Katie Aselton’s lovely coming-of-age drama “Their Town,” a familiar yet cozily comforting film about the soulful kinships that emerge when we least expect them, enriching our world in ways that are permanent and singular.

A warm family affair on the page and off — the script is by Aselton’s husband Mark Duplass, with the lead played by their daughter, Ora Duplass — “Their Town” doesn’t just wink with its title at Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning play “Our Town.” It also embraces its small-town spirit beautifully, finding meaning in life’s ordinary moments when everything else seems high-stakes. Ora’s Abby is certainly experiencing one of those extreme crossroads in her young world, when her boyfriend Tyler (William Atticus Parker) exits the school play they’re co-leading. Does that mean he just doesn’t want to be in a production that he deems stupid, or is a break-up imminent — especially considering Tyler hasn’t always been faithful?

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To the relief of their exceedingly vocal and dramatic director Mr. Elliot (Jeffery Self, vibrant despite an overwrought part that errs on the side of comic-relief cliché), Abby half-heartedly stays behind, getting paired with Matt (Chosen Jacobs) instead. Except Matt had only signed up to do stage work, and isn’t all that interested in playing a romantic lead. Still, the two decide to spend some time after school and practice their parts jointly anyway.

At first, Abby’s reluctance to stick with the play doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially because we get a strong sense of character from her: “I am my own person,” she insists, early in the film. But when we meet her mother Janet (Kim Shaw), the pieces of the puzzle snap into place. Having been let down by men before, and hoping for a less tough life for her daughter, Janet seems to encourage Abby to stick with the popular Tyler as a way out, confusing her about what her individual priorities should be.

In an especially well-written and deftly orchestrated scene where Janet and Abby quarrel, with Matt overhearing from another room, their mother-daughter dynamic comes into sharp focus with heartbreak and humor. In the heat of the fight, Janet’s protectiveness of Tyler is surprising: Shouldn’t she encourage her daughter to build a life on her town terms? Then we realize the very point at the heart of “Their Town” (and perhaps our own memories of youth): Grown-ups are older but not always wiser, and young instincts can sometimes be the right ones.

Settling into this realization, we can blissfully enjoy the unforced chemistry that emerges between Matt and Abby when they head to his family home — a lot more upscale than Abby’s — for practice. We learn that Matt’s parents have been divorced since his father Anthony (Daveed Diggs) came out as a gay man. A loving father, he now often visits his boyfriend Wei (Leonard Nam) abroad, checking in with Matt via Zoom daily. (An especially amusing Zoom call makes for another memorable scene in the film.)

With their past connections delightfully rediscovered and all the cards on the table, the youngsters spend the evening strolling around their town over confessional conversations, bringing to mind the relaxed rhythms of Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy. While their exchanges aren’t quite as deep as Jesse and Celine’s, Abby and Matt are still wonderful screen partners, and ones we root for. A winsome scene with Gloria (Annie Henk), the owner of a taco truck that Abby frequents, furthers that sentiment. Elsewhere, the crisp New England environs of Bangor, Maine provide a stunning backdrop for the proceedings — charming, but not romanticized in an overly syrupy way.

“Their Town” is less successful when it dials up the dramatic intensity by teasing a mental illness angle for Matt, explaining the episodes that forced his family to move. Fluid and organic until then, the film stumbles a little with this revelation, with even the young cast seeming ill at ease as they navigate a storyline that almost comes out of nowhere. This also makes us question other narrative choices: If Matt’s struggle is so recent, how is his father this comfortable leaving him alone for long periods of time?

Still, “Their Town” finds its footing, thanks mostly to its exceptional performances and Aselton’s sharp, unfussy direction, which allows the leads’ chemistry and the locale’s warmth speak for themselves. In return, we gladly embrace the gentle touch of this small and spirited film.