Basically, it's the redistribution of unwanted presents or, to put it crudely, the dumping of tacky gew-gaws on the nearest person instead of binning them.

The agent of actress Elizabeth Marks (Mortimer) has refined 're-gifting' into an art - even if she can't land her client any decent roles.

To compound her problems Elizabeth is obsessed with her looks, a state of affairs not helped by an uninvolved boyfriend who advises her not to take him along to a premiere "but someone you can have fun with".

Her elder sister Michelle (Keener) suffers a loveless marriage to a man who, almost understandably, fails to share her enthusiasm for making tiny chairs out of twigs.

Then there's mum. Jane (Blethyn), a confusing combination of vanity and insecurity, who watches over her offspring from a hospital bed after undergoing liposuction surgery.

The fourth and final female is eight-year-old Annie, an adopted African American, who has also developed a preoccupation with her appearance.

Holofcener, who directed an episode of Sex & The City, has drawn a slightly off-kilter parallel universe inhabited by the Marks.

The decision to use two British actresses - Blethyn and Mortimer - to play a quintessential American mother and daughter was a brave one, but worth it.

Mortimer, especially, inhabits the role like a glove and perfectly nails the insecurities of an actress in an industry where looks count for pretty much everything.

The pleasures are small but telling in a film which smoulders away but never really catches fire, even as the plot takes a surreal turn.

Wry rather than laugh-out-loud, this is a well observed comedy drama that is lovely if not amazing.

Tim Evans