A mellow romantic comedy about love and war across three generations, Peace, Love & Misunderstanding is as comfortable as an old blanket — and about as threadbare. Diane (Catherine Keener) is an uptight New York City lawyer who has just been asked for a divorce. She takes her teens Jake (Nat Wolff), a budding documentary filmmaker, and Zoe (Elizabeth Olsen), a rabid vegetarian, to her mother Grace’s (Jane Fonda) upstate ranch where chickens live inside and pot grows in the basement.
Diane and Grace haven’t spoken in 20 years, but Grace tries easing the tension by introducing Diane to Jude (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a handsome local carpenter who likes skinny-dipping and singing in public. Zoe is attracted/repulsed by Cole (Chace Crawford), a butcher who reads Whitman, and Jake becomes smitten with local teen Tara (Marissa O’Donnell). There are no surprises regarding how relationship misunderstandings play out, but despite its predictability, Peace, Love & Misunderstanding is mostly pleasing. Fonda shines brightest in her role, dispensing folksy wisdom and healing crystals — even if the film itself only generates a contact high.
