Although lack of trust is usually painted as one way to undermine a love relationship, lack of respect is more often the villain. When this important quality is missing, intimacy shrivels. The Daytrippers is an exceptionally well done film about several members of a Long Island family who just don't know how to respect the ones they love.

Eliza (Hope Davis) finds a love letter in her husband Louis's (Stanley Tucci) belongings and immediately suspects that he's being unfaithful to her. She tells her domineering mother (Anne Meara) who then gathers the rest of the family together including her passive husband (Pat McNamara), her spoiled younger daughter Jo (Parker Posey), and Jo's boyfriend Carl (Liev Schreiber), an aspiring novelist. They all head off to Manhattan to confront Louis at the publishing firm where he works. On the way, their own relationships are revealed to be quite frayed. They also come across two other families under siege: a deadbeat dad and his older son, and two sisters squabbling over their dead mother's possessions.

Writer and director Greg Mottola has created credible and rounded characters who-like many of us-are trying to sustain love but having a hard time of it. Don't miss this wonderful film. It has a bittersweet quality to it that is quite endearing. It will open your eyes to the role of respect as a keystone to durable love.