With help from screenwriters Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, Sam Mendes has gone from directing movies about American tragedy to celebrating love in America and beyond. In the process he has made a really lovely, funny movie.

Non-married but long-term couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Rona (Maya Rudolph) discover that they're pregnant. Six months later, they arrive at the house of Burt's parents, Gloria (Catherine O'Hara) and Jerry (Jeff Daniels). We later learn that Burt and Rona moved to their current (and never disclosed) location for the sole purpose of being near Burt's parents.  But, as the expectant couple finds out, the grandparents-to-be have decided to move to Antwerp a month before the baby is due. 

No longer tied to their home, Burt and Rona decide to go on a trip to see where they should locate their new family. They plan to visit friends and relatives in Phoenix, Tucson, Madison and Montreal. Away they go.

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph deserve the majority of praise for making this movie work. They believably portray Burt and Rona as two people just made for each other. If there's one thing this movie suggests, it's that finding the love of your life has nothing to do with candles, romance, and marriage.  Rather, it's about finding a partner who is as bewildered as you are when faced with the rest of the world's bizarre view of normalcy.

This theme is amply demonstrated by run-ins with objectionable family units.  In Phoenix, Rona's former boss Lily (Alison Janney) and her husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan) practice verbal abuse on their children. In Madison, the relationship between Bert's cousin LN (Maggie Gyllenhall), her husband Roderick (Josh Hamilton), and their children is a little too close for comfort.

During the latter encounter Burt and Rona's eyes meet across a dinner table, and their look alone suggests their shared horror.  Isn't this what we're all looking for? That one person with whom we can share such a look? And, most importantly, a person who will stand up for us in such a situation? Burt does. When he can't take any more of LN's patronizing advice to Rona he shouts, "You are TERRIBLE people."

And that's why Burt is such a believable dreamboat. He's solvent, he's funny, he's sensitive – but he has also has a backbone. As Rona's sister (Carmen Ejogo) in Tucson observes, "You found a good one, sis". Though Rona is the more pragmatic member of the couple, her deadpan reactions to the chaos she encounters are just as hilarious as Burt's outbursts.  Rudolph also lends Rona an impressively quiet dignity as she refuses to be bullied by those around her.

The couple then visits two friends from college, Munch (Melanie Lynskey) and Tom (Chris Messina), who live in Montreal with their happy family of adopted kids.  After learning that even this likable family has its problems, Burt and Rona make an unplanned trip to Miami to come to the aid of Burt's brother Courtney (Paul Schneider) when his wife leaves him. These encounters remind Burt and Rona that there is a great deal of unhappiness, injustice, and loneliness in the world.  This realization, in turn, causes Burt and Rona to have small emotional crises and some of the best moments in the movie occur when they take turns talking each down.

The couple does eventually decide on a location, and I won't tell you where it is because it's basically the only suspense there is.  But that's exactly why I liked this movie. You're not waiting for anyone to fall in love. There's no cliché delivery scene that changes anyone's perspective. It's just two people looking for a place to exist, with a soothing (though sometimes intrusive) soundtrack.

This movie is almost zen in its ability to just observe and be in the moment. It features normal-looking actors, realistically-cluttered houses, and naturally beautiful scenery. The cast really is phenomenal, and if you're looking for a movie about true (if eccentric) love, you won't do any better than this one.