Infinitely Polar Bear

A sweet, sensitive and affectionate memoir about two girls growing up in a mixed-race household with a manic-depressive father, Infinitely Polar Bear certainly gives off a palpable sense of warmth and sincerity, but I wish that Forbes wanted to give her audience something a little more substantial than a case of the warm fuzzies. When frustrated Maggie (Zoe Saldana) gets accepted into an MBA program in New York City, she reluctantly leaves the girls with her estranged “free spirit” husband Cameron (Mark Ruffalo, excellent) while she earns her degree, even though she doesn't trust him to provide the girls with the stability and structure that they crave. To its infinite credit, the film never judges the mentally ill Cameron too harshly, even when he curses out the girls, replaces his lithium treatment with “small, steady sips of beer” or skips out at night to go carousing in a bar. D.B.