Griffin Dunne is an actor who, from his earliest days, has always possessed a deft touch with juggling and expressing disparate tones — conveying a sense, no matter how buttoned-up a certain character may or may not be, of roiling exasperation with the various indignities that life eventually foists upon all of us. It helps, too, that he has a particular mien that reads as somewhere between well-to-do and rakish, a fact that lends many of his performances a charged, slightly edgy quality.

Dunne’s other interests (he’s directed, and also dabbled as a writer) have perhaps led him away from starring roles. Or perhaps it’s just that the notion of leading men with compromised personal histories and sliding-scale morals fell increasingly out of favor in mainstream studio fare around the time Dunne began carving out his career. Either way, Dunne has always seemed an excellent anchor around which to build a film, and a rather delightful confirmation of this fact lands on home video in the form of Ex-Husbands, a drama-comedy from writer-director Noah Pritzker.

Dunne stars as Peter Pearce, a New York City dentist coming to grips with an impending divorce from his wife of three-and-a-half decades, Maria (Rosanna Arquette, providing the film a fun After Hours reunion). Seeking a mental getaway as much as a physical one, Peter impulsively books a trip to Tulum, Mexico, only to be informed by his youngest son Mickey (Miles Heizer, above right) that that is the same destination for the upcoming bachelor party of Peter’s eldest son Nick (James Norton, above left).

What could, on the surface, seem like a conceit for a highly exaggerated comedy is instead given a nice, low-fi, very humane treatment. While Peter initially makes attempts to give wide berth to his sons, not wanting to interrupt their time together with friends, Nick feels a bit sorry for his father and goes to considerable lengths to include him in plans. As Nick does, news of his own unraveling relationship with his longtime girlfriend forces two generations of Pearce men to look in the mirror and consider their happiness and futures.

If the movie struggles a bit with Mickey’s sexuality (he’s gay), attempting to shoehorn in a quickie hook-up that works in providing a moment of earned reflection toward the film’s end, but generally comes off as contrived, the family-dynamic elements of Ex-Husbands play quite strongly. Pritzker (Quitters) crafts several nice supporting characters that eschew the “showy cameo” mindset that infects many day-player roles in present-day American independent film, instead providing nice, realistic sounding boards for Peter’s character in particular.

Pritzker also shows himself to be an unfussy director, not much concerned with flashy flourishes. Working with cinematographer Alfonso Salcedo, he instead roots his movie more earnestly in its simple narrative, while still coming up with a visual vocabulary that suits the story he’s telling. Norton and Heizer are quite solid, both individually and in evincing a fraternal bond. Dunne, meanwhile, is the true star here, delivering a highly engaging performance — he’s both frazzled and funny, sometimes a bit sulky but also loving.

Ex-Husbands comes to DVD from Kino Lorber, presented in 16×9 widescreen, in English and Spanish language 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio tracks, with optional English SDH subtitles. A selection of trailers complement the release; it’s a shame, given the material’s semi-autobiographical roots, that Pritzker doesn’t weigh in with a feature audio commentary track. For more information about the film, or to purchase it, click here.