Abby, a massage therapist, develops an aversion to skin shortly after her boyfriend Jesse asks her to move in with him. She takes a temporary leave of absence from work. Her disgust begins to affect her relationship with Jesse, as she cannot bring herself to touch him or be touched. After her suggestion that they take ecstasy together in order to help her relax goes awry, Abby decides not to move in with Jesse. Abby's brother Paul struggles financially as the family dentistry practice is crumbling and his risk-averse attitude means he refuses to seek out new patients. When his daughter Jenny invites her friend Henry in for a routine teeth-cleaning, Paul is displeased. However, Paul manages to accidentally cure Henry's temporomandibular joint dysfunction and news of his healing powers begins to attract new clients. Inspired by the outpouring of enthusiasm from his patients, he visits Abby's friend Bronwyn in order to learn Reiki to better help his clients. However, after a disgruntled ex-client collapses in the waiting room while screaming that Paul is a fraud, his fortunes reverse and his patients disappear. Upset at watching her father revert to his former self, Jenny runs out of the office crying. Abby leaves Jesse a break-up note and moves in with her brother. She takes ecstasy alone and while wandering outdoors meets her ex-boyfriend, Adrian. He takes her to his grandmother's home; while there she is able to touch him. Paul finds another ecstasy tablet and he takes it while he waits for Jenny to contact him. He wanders through the city, eventually ending up at Bronwyn's home, where they kiss. Jenny goes to Jesse's apartment and invites him to attend a music concert with her. Afterwards, they go back to his apartment, where Jenny asks him to kiss her; he refuses, telling her he loves Abby. Jenny falls asleep at his home. The next morning they are awoken by a knock at the door from Abby, who is able to hug Jesse.
Cast
Rosemarie DeWitt as Abby
Ellen Page as Jenny
Josh Pais as Paul
Allison Janney as Bronwyn
Ron Livingston as Adrian
Scoot McNairy as Jesse
Tomo Nakayama as Henry
Production
Director Lynn Shelton's friend Megan Griffiths suggested the title after Shelton described her idea for the film over lunch. Ellen Page joined the cast after Catherine Keener mentioned that Shelton was interested in working with her. According to Page, a good deal of the dialogue was improvised.
Reception
Touchy Feely received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 39%, based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted but overly quirky, Touchy Feely is a tonally uneven dramedy with some interesting ideas but a lack of follow-through." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 55 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
