Men of a Certain Age

The reason the show feels so real at every turn is that it is a perfect balance of dramatic realism and gentle humor.

It's a midlife triumph, a series that takes a well-worn theme and makes it unpredictable, freshly funny, and sometimes moving.

Like its vague title, Men possesses a certain charm that's not always easy to characterize, but is, thankfully, easy to watch. And based on season two, the show, at least, is aging quite gracefully.

The plots are really secondary to the show's winning, easy-going style and its bittersweet tone. This isn't John Cassavetes, but there's something of the director's spaciously paced, slightly improvised technique about the way the men on the show interact as they take their regular hikes and breakfast at the diner.

They're all skilled enough to play both the drama and comedy of the situations their characters confront, and, what's more, viewers are prepared to know and like them.

It's an insightful, easy-to-like, low-stakes character dramedy about men coming to terms with their limits. A story for an era of lower expectations, Men of a Certain Age meets its own diminished ones, and surpasses them.

Too much of Men, despite Romano's skill at observational humor, feels slow and uncomfortably downbeat.\