Paul Eenhoorn, left, and Earl Lynn Nelson in Land Ho! (Daniel Gylfason/Sony Pictures Classics)

Land Ho!, a slight, harmless little film, has charm but ultimately disappoints. Mitch (Earl Lynn Nelson), a geriatric Kentucky surgeon—he’s 70 if he’s a day—decides to take his “favorite ex-brother-in-law” Australian-American Colin (Paul Eenhoorn), also up there in years, to Iceland on a vacation to get him out his funk. Colin’s been depressed ever since Mitch’s sister ran off. Mitch is crass, gregarious, outspoken, and strangely charming. Colin is quiet, reserved, and withdrawn. So you have a buddy road comedy. Except the buddies are card-carrying AARP members.

The film starts off low-key and stays there. The gear never shifts to second. The same conversations get repeated over and over again with very little variation. Basically, Colin needs to loosen up and Mitch needs to be less overbearing and so forth. Scenes come and scenes go, but there’s no real resolution until the end, and even then it is a small step. This would be fine, if the script was more insightful.

Rather, we have “real people talking.” On occasion, there’s a smart line or a funny insight, mostly provided by Mitch, but the majority of the dialogue seems to be deliberately banal. (Most of it was scripted. About 20 percent was improvised.)

There are some nice moments and the actors have solid chemistry. Paul Eenhoorn, in particular, gives a wonderful performance. You sense the coiled anger beneath the sadness and calm exterior, but he never quite lets it out. He really lets you into the tension of the character. Also, the film is a fantastic commercial for Iceland. The cinematography never misses a chance to highlight the country’s stark beauty.

Again, there is charm here. And occasionally—very occasionally—Land Ho! takes us in a direction we don’t expect. Mostly it’s just 95 minutes with two men who we like just enough to follow on their adventures, but not enough to really care about them.