What Green adds to familiar material is a sense of genuine wildness—and, at times, eerie ritual. He recognizes something tribal about the raising of close siblings, and their near-feral nature adds jolts of humor and, eventually, heartbreak.

It’s not really a family film, at least not for many families — the home-school lesson tells you why — but it’s not really a grown-up comedy either. It hovers in an uncanny valley, and the tonal swing is unpleasant.

Stiller has become a deeper actor with age, and he's perfect here: you know he has a good soul, because this is a comedy, and not a dark one, but he keeps you guessing.

If the contents of Nutcrackers aren’t outright stolen from other, arguably better works, they are certainly hand-me-downs that don’t fit. A refund would be appreciated.