Successful, but discontent suburban lawyer Howard Wakefield (superbly played by Bryan Cranston) decides to step away from his unrewarding humdrum lifestyle by living in seclusion in the attic of his garage. However, Wakefield still keeps tabs on his estranged wife Diana (a sturdy portrayal by Jennifer Garner) and two daughters by spying on them from afar.

Writer/director Robin Swicord relates the compellingly offbeat story at a measured pace, astutely pegs the numbing monotony and complacency of everyday upper-crust suburbanite existence, offers a nice mix of pathos and humor, and provides a thoughtful and provocative exploration on the concept of self-worth and how much a person matters in the lives of other people. Better still, Cranston brilliantly captures the quiet anguish and desperation of a broken down man who's fed up with his lackluster lot in life and yearns to have a second chance at a better one. Granted, the premise does strain credibility at times, but overall this is an interesting and refreshingly different film.

The opening credits lists so many different producers for this film, it is not surprising that this is such a mediocre and boring film. Every type of producer giving their penny's worth of opinion and not even bothering to figure out even at the script stage that this film will be dull as dishwater.

Wakefield is an adaptation of EL Doctorow's short story. Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) has a breakdown when his commuter train breaks down. When he gets home instead of entering his house, Howard hides in the attic of his garage observing his wife and children. Howard thinks his much younger wife will have an affair.

As he spends the following months watching his house, the tedium is occasionally enlivened with various flashbacks as to how Howard met his wife Diana (Jennifer Garner.)

E.L. Doctorow is best known as the author of "Ragtime", a historical fiction novel intertwining several different stories - some of them involving real people - in New York in the early 20th century. I've both read the novel and seen Milos Forman's screen adaptation.* Doctorow also wrote "The Book of Daniel", a fictionalized account of the Rosenberg children, which Sidney Lumet turned into a movie.

So it's a surprise that Doctorow also wrote a story that was the basis for the oddball "Wakefield", about a man who hides from his family for several months. On the one hand, the story shows how the man reevaluates his life through this experience (how could a person living in the emptiness that is the suburbs not want to do this?). On the other hand, there's not much of a plot beyond that. Bryan Cranston turns in a fine performance, but I wish that Jennifer Garner could get a more substantial performance (although that's wishful thinking, considering what Hollywood thinks of any woman over the age of forty).

OK movie, but nothing special.

*Trivia: "Ragtime" was the film debut of Jeff Daniels, Fran Drescher, Samuel L. Jackson and Mandy Patinkin. Jackson's character therein was as much of a badass as he was "Pulp Fiction" or "Snakes on a Plane".