Jenna Fischer of “The Office” gets a chance to be the center of attention and does not waste the opportunity as a frazzled Long Island dental hygienist facing a cascade of unforeseen crises in the black comedy “A Little Help.” Approaching the first anniversary of 9/11 — a key detail — Fischer’s Laura Pehlke worries that her husband (Chris O’Donnell) is having an affair as she struggles to stay on good terms with their 12-year-old son (Daniel Yelsky) and her sister (Brooke Smith). Death pays an unexpected visit, but during a series of darkly funny events, Laura finds herself slipping into a queasy habit of lying to keep her life together.
Yet recovery from disaster make her shine a little, too, a development Fischer handles with her characteristic winsome alertness. Though the plot fizzles a little toward the end, writer-director Michael J. Weithorn, the co-creator of “The King of Queens,” draws his characters with great care, and supplies telling dialogue and tart observations throughout. A pouty boy IMs his mother “You suck you suck you suck” in one typically on-target moment, and in another, Laura is correctly told by her less attractive sister that her seemingly unfortunate life is nevertheless defined by luck — because that’s all that being pretty is.
An exceptional cast includes a hilarious Ron Leibman as a fossilized ex-sports reporter for this newspaper, and a buzzing, kinetic Kim Coates as a greasy trial lawyer. An unexpected bonus is a pack of new songs by Jakob Dylan. File this one in the same category of edgy Long Island comedies as the equally smart 2009 Alec Baldwin film “Lymelife.”