AllMovie

A widowed dental hygienist gets caught up in a pair of elaborate lies while growing increasingly attracted to her smitten brother-in-law in this comedy drama from King of Queens executive producer Michael J. Weithorn. In the wake of 9/11, Laura Pehlke (Jenna Fischer) finds her life falling apart. Not only is her husband, Bob (Chris O'Donnell), having an affair, but lately their son, Dennis (Daniel Yelski), has begun displaying all the tell-tale signs of tween rage. Then, just when it seems like things around the Pehlke household couldn't get any more tense, Bob drops dead due to a heart condition that he intentionally kept secret for fear of divulging his extramarital fling. Suddenly, Laura's overbearing mother, Joan (Lesley Ann Warren), and pushy sister, Kathy (Brooke Smith), are insisting she ship Dennis off to private school and sue the hospital where Bob was "misdiagnosed." Meanwhile, after enrolling in a new school, insecure Dennis tells his classmates that his father was a NYC fireman who perished heroically while rescuing people from the Twin Towers. The two lies snowballing as her stress begins to peak, Laura finds that the only person who seems to sympathize with her plight is Kathy's husband, Paul (Rob Benedict), who harbored a major crush on her back in high school, yet barely registered on her radar. Two decades later, Laura finally notices him. Now the closer that Laura and Paul grow, the more apparent it becomes that they both desire more from their relationship than either of them are willing to admit.