Yes, that was heartbreaking. Isaac's face when F Murray Abraham tells him he needs a partner replaces what would have been ten minutes of backstory in anyone else's film.

Agreed. It was funny, as their films always are, but it had a sublevel of sadness, mostly implicit but occasionally out in the open, that made it different from most of their other work.
I thought it was one of their best, which makes it one of the very best American films of the last thirty years.

I would definitely read Molly's fist novel.

This still isn't the least helpful and informative review ever posted on avclub.

Toby Jones for the father. Given the height of Leonard's mother, the father has to be seriously short, and Pendleton looks to be a hulking 5-7 or so.

"When the Bengals stink, we get to call them the Bungles. When the Saints stink, we get to call them the Ain’ts."

'Reynolds' is a surprisingly-common typo for 'Lancaster'.

The advice given here is just completely wrong:

"Amy's observation about Raiders was fine, and the writers are clearly very proud of themselves for it"

Especially if you're in the front row at a Gallagher gig.