Jon Ekstrand is the reason this lands

Jon Ekstrand gives this role a little extra shape without making a big show of it. I bought the character pretty quickly, which is not always easy in this kind of film. It is the kind of performance that quietly makes the movie sturdier. A couple of tiny timing choices really stuck with me. There is a nice lived-in quality to it, nothing too forced. That is the part I kept thinking about after the movie ended.