Henry Roth (Crudup) is messed up. When he is forced to team with beautiful illustrator Lucy Riley (Moore) after his best friend and creative collaborator passes away, Henry struggles with letting go of the ghosts of love and life as he discovers that sometimes you have to gamble at life to find love.

The indie rom-com "Dedication" marks the debut for actor-turned-director Justin Theroux (The Baxter, Muholland Drive). The movie starts off strong with witty dialogue complete with dark humor and even curses at innocent five-year-olds, but rapidly slows down in pace once the story turns into what seems like a forced romantic relationship. Billy Crudup (Almost Famous), Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember), and Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) star in this R-Rated love story set outside of Queens, New York.

The first twenty minutes of the movie introduce you to the relationship between children's book author Henry Roth (Crudup), and his mentor and illustrator Rudy Holt (Wilkinson). Crudup gives a persuasive performance as an obsessive-compulsive, manic-depressive who drives away anyone (including the interesting cameo choice of Christine Taylor as ex-girlfriend Allison) who attempts to get close to him, with the exception of Wilkinson's character, Rudy. The best and funniest scene comes in the first ten minutes in which Henry and Rudy go to any "normal" place to find motivation for their next children's book; a movie theatre showing a pornographic movie. However, the strangeness in their personalities somehow finds the inspiration for their next children's book, a bestseller in which Christmas is saved by Marty the Beaver (get it?).

After the sudden death of Rudy, Henry's boss, Arthur Planck forces him to team up with an amateur illustrator named Lucy (Moore). The characters' first unfriendly encounter in an elevator shows the problems their personalities will cause in the near future. Lucy and Henry realize they obviously have nothing in common; they disagree on everything and soon put the "Marty the Beaver" book sequel in jeopardy. Crudup and Moore do a great job of playing standoffish characters but it's their eventual romance that you find unconvincing.

Henry's fragile mental state continues throughout the movie as he still communicates with Rudy, in a very unique way involving the Unisphere. Rudy and Henry converse about the newly formed semi-friendship with Lucy and the looming death of the new book. However, the relationship of Lucy and Henry soon and predictably changes once they find common ground during a much needed business getaway.

This "Garden State" feel of a movie is well acted by Crudup and especially by Wilkinson. The ending is something you see coming midway through the movie and you find yourself annoyed that you have to listen to an irritating indie-rock soundtrack until the credits roll. If the strength of the dialogue from the first third of the movie was maintained throughout, this movie could have easily been the smart, light-hearted romantic comedy that it thought it could be. Overall, if you're looking for a semi-decent, indie rom-com to watch on a rainy Friday night, "Dedication" is the movie for you.

Grade: C+

Reviewd By Trevor