It's an unsettling feeling when a movie begins by presenting the definition of its own title on screen. It suggests that the filmmakers believe their audience is too unintelligent to grasp the meaning—in this case, ‘acrimony,’ which seems rather low down on the literary scale. Why would anyone want to watch something that appears to underestimate your intelligence from the very start? Furthermore, if the writer/di…

It's easy to mistake _Acrimony_ for a standard made-for-television film based on the promotional materials alone, but the movie grants its central figures a depth rarely seen in that type of production. The film isn’t without flaws; many of them likely stem from limitations in the budget. Even setting those issues aside, _Acrimony_ doesn't reinvent the genre or set new standards—though it is enjoyable and feels uniqu…