Fantasy Life

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2:15

Fantasy Life

R

Mar 2026

1h 31m

Romance

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

84%

Tomatometer

31 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

An anxious law school dropout (Matthew Shear) stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters and falls for the girls' mother (Amanda Peet), an actress in a rocky marriage. A smart, New York-set romantic comedy co-starring Alessandro Nivola, Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban, Andrea Martin, Zosia Mamet, and Holland Taylor. Winner of the SXSW Narrative Feature Audience Award.

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Kyle Smith

Wall Street Journal

15h

As a love story, “Fantasy Life” isn’t particularly original, but the low-key way Mr. Shear realizes some familiar situations is warm and human, with comic aspects and sad ones kept in an appealing balance.

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

16h

B-

What makes it worth seeing is Peet and the other performers, as well as the chance to see a first film from Shear, who deserves a second one.

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Nicolas Rapold

New York Times

17h

The movie’s flow might rest with its season-spanning chapters. It’s a device that also bears a message: Time moves on, and so can we.

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Leo Brady

AMovieGuy.com

6h

4/4

Fantasy Life becomes a beautifully observed slice of life- filled with humor, charm, romance, and a disarming sense of honesty. It’s a remarkable first feature.

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Sean Boelman

FandomWire

13h

6/10

Thanks to predictably great turns from its star-studded cast, Matthew Shear’s film is charming despite its familiarity, and for a 90-minute movie, you could ask for much worse.

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Nadia Dalimonte

Next Best Picture

18h

7/10

Overall, the narrative trajectory builds towards an underwhelming end, but as a first-time director and screenwriter, Shear proves to be a promising talent on the rise.

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eli

2d

The kissing scenes and the story

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Michael Y.

@michaelyonis Mar 20

Absolutely horrible movie. It was so dry and boring, that I almost fell asleep in the roughly 30 minutes I watched of the movie before walking out of the theater.

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Mike K

@mike65401 Mar 19

The only redeeming quality was Amanda Peet. I'll watch any movie if she is in it. I'm not really sure how the actors got talked into being in this movie. And it didn't have an ending.... it just stopped and the credits started rolling.

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Mariah H

@RT32502740 Mar 17

I saw this less than 24 hours ago and it actually beat out the Nirvanna movie for worst movie I've seen in a while. The actors weren't the issues, it was the pointless drawn out storyline, like you were watching a boring life unfold with a lot of forced drama. The angles they filmed from were also awkward. The end felt rushed and had no definitive marker; felt like just another scene. Only knew it ended because of the credits. Hardly any laughter in the theater, so not sure how this was a comedy. Perfect movie for putting the audience to sleep, as we discovered. Definitely not worth a full price movie ticket. I would have turned the movie off if it was on a streaming service. I know indie films can be a little different, but this definitely was not worth the power, money, or film/storage used to create it.

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Teresa L.

@tlewiswatts Mar 17

I didn’t ever feel that the lead character—who also wrote & directed this boring story—had any appeal. I kept waiting for this film to pick up & do something, & it just dripped along until it finally ended! A total waste of an hour & a half I’ll never get back—except for seeing Amanda Peet, who I honestly didn’t recognize until well into the film…Holland Taylor & Judd Hirsch were great to see, as was Andrea Martin. If this is a “comedy”, then I never want to see a modern comedy again.

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Clark T.

@RT11871854 Mar 17

Fantasy Life is a light hearted film with such realistic dialogue that didn’t feel forced in anyway. A really good dramedy with the perfect amount of romance sprinkled in. Fantasy Life is a film that people should see because I know they will find a way to relate to it in some way, shape, or form. Its message of mental health is so important aswell. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a film in this genre this much since i watched past lives when it came out.

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Matthew Shear

Director

Amanda Peet

Dianne

Matthew Shear

Sam

Alessandro Nivola

David

Judd Hirsch

Fred

Bob Balaban

Lenny

Fantasy Life: Trailer 1

2:15

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Synopsis

An anxious law school dropout (Matthew Shear) stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters and falls for the girls' mother (Amanda Peet), an actress in a rocky marriage. A smart, New York-set romantic comedy co-starring Alessandro Nivola, Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban, Andrea Martin, Zosia Mamet, and Holland Taylor. Winner of the SXSW Narrative Feature Audience Award.

Director: Matthew Shear
Producer: Charlie Alderman, Christopher Dodds, Amanda Peet, Phil Keefe, Emily McCann Lesser, David Bernon, Sam Slater
Screenwriter: Matthew Shear
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Production Co: Prospect Avenue, Burn Later Productions, Made By Limbo, AC3 Media, Charlie's Production Company
Rating: R (Brief Drug Use|Some Sexual References|Language)
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 27, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 1h 31m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.66:1)

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