“Assets and Liabilities” is an indie drama that seems far more interested in its own mood than in telling a story anyone would actually want to follow.
Written, directed by, and starring Zach Weintraub, the film centers on a suburban dad having a mild existential spiral while his family is out of town. What’s framed as a day of rediscovery of the man trying to reconnect with a younger, freer version of himself turns into a meandering, self-indulgent exercise that never really finds a point.
A big part of the problem is the dialogue. It leans heavily into a loose, mumblecore style where conversations feel improvised and unfocused. That approach can work when the characters are compelling or the writing feels sharp and natural. Here, it just comes off as underwritten. Scenes drag on without saying much of anything, and you’re left waiting for some kind of insight or payoff that never arrives.
And that’s the other issue: Zach just isn’t a very interesting character to spend this much time with. His internal conflict (grappling with aging and his own comfortable, middle-class identity) could possibly have been something interesting, but the film never digs deep enough to make it engaging. Instead, it just circles the same ideas over and over without adding anything new.
There are hints of something darker and more meaningful in the second half, especially when the story starts to unravel Zach’s illusion of a carefree escape. But by that point, the film has already worn out its welcome. The runtime feels way too long for how little actually happens, and whatever impact those later moments might have had gets lost.
All of this makes “Assets and Liabilities” feels like a sketch of a film rather than a fully realized one. It’s slow, aimless, and frustratingly thin on substance.
By: Louisa Moore
