TAKE THIS WALTZ pans a year or so in the relationship of a young married couple named Lou and Margot (Seth Rogen is the affable husband, Michelle Williams is the sensitive wife), as Margot develops a crush on Daniel (Luke Kirby), the artist who lives across the street.

There's some excellent acting all the way through: Williams is far more believable than in the overly mopey Blue Valentine, which looks fairly unambitious in comparison to Waltz, and Rogen, without any set-piece-style jokes to hang his shtick on, simply plays a loveable schlub. And the film is loaded with fine, touching moments: The best discussion about relationships happens in the shower of a women's locker room where naked women of all ages and sizes talk about commitment and age and pragmatism. And when things get too interior or whiny, someone always comes along to remind you that this isn't some insipid Hollywood product. When Margot is complaining about how Lou doesn't honor the "courage" it takes for a wife to seduce her husband, he lets loose with an exasperated cry—from always-gentle Rogen, it sounds like a bellow—of "What are you talking about?" She's being ridiculous and he's being obtuse.

"They both drive me crazy in that scene," Polley said in a recent phone interview, because they may as well be speaking two different languages. They drive each other, and us, crazy, too, but this particular blend of love and hate and annoyance is unlike anything you've ever felt for a movie.