Ruth & Alex | What to Watch

Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman’s amiable turns prop up this low-key comedy drama

Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman’s amiable turns prop up this low-key comedy drama.

They are Ruth and Alex, a long-married couple sent into a flap by the prospect of moving out of the fifth-floor Brooklyn apartment that has been their home for the past 40 years.

Not a great deal happens in the movie, which takes place over the course of a weekend. Ruth's pushy real-estate agent niece (Cynthia Nixon) goes into hyperventilating efforts to sell the flat, a stream of gawping visitors pass in and out and the couple's ageing dog goes into hospital.

Meanwhile, in the background, overhyped media reports of a possible terrorist on the loose threaten to depress neighbourhood property values.

It's all very cosy and undemanding, but the stars prove amiably engaging company.