As someone whose mom and grandfather regularly obsess over Scrabble, I completely understood the joys and frustrations of Sometimes Always Never’s wordplay. They are definitely more enthralling than the visuals, which attempt to mimic the quirkiness of Wes Anderson but come up short. At worst, they play at odds with the narrative, which is quaint but emotionally stirring and features a very “at home” performance from Bill Nighy in his comedic element. The movie’s no triple-word winner, but there’s at least a few worthy double-letters from the performances and a unique depiction of grief.

Nighy plays Alan, a widower and former tailor estranged from his adult son Peter (Sam Riley). His other son Michael walked out on him decades ago in the middle of a Scrabble match—a game Alan constantly obsesses over—and one can’t help but see that passion as a subconscious attempt to process that absence. After receiving a call about a body that recently has been found, father and son reunite for the first time in ages to potentially get closure about Michael’s disappearance. Instead the opposite happens, and Alan starts thinking that Michael could potentially be alive, maybe even as a fellow Scrabble player online.

Words are Alan’s forte; he knows the origin of so many out-there terms worthy of making 60+ points on the triple word box. Nighy successfully blends this awkwardness into his character’s sympathetic appeal, albeit with a hint of manipulation and obliviousness. We see this when he convinces couple Arthur (Tim McInnerny) and Margaret (Jenny Agutter)—whom he meets when they are also called to identify the same corpse—to play a game of Scrabble, semi-innocently hustling Arthur for 200 quid in the process. That’s the irony, of course: the man has a niche mastery of etymology, yet he struggles to patch old wounds with his living child due to an obsession over the lost one.

Peter hasn’t quite forgiven his father for not being the best parent, or for cheaply buying knock-off gameboard pieces. Peter wants this whole scenario over with, but things become more complicated when Alan becomes a “fish and visitor” type of guest in his house. His wife, Sue (Alice Lowe), and son, Jack (Louis Healy), find it weird at first but eventually warm up to Alan’s presence, with Jack even accepting his grandfather’s fashion advice. Yet Peter finds this an intrusion where, much to his chagrin, Alan seems better at communicating with everyone but him.

While the characters are appealing, it’s hard to say anyone other than Peter and Alan is truly fleshed out. Being a British comedy, there’s a matter-of-fact, dry sense of humor, often in long conversation-driven sequences, with the occasional discussion of marmite. Unless you’re a massive Wes Anderson fan, someone whom first-time director Carl Hunter clearly borrows inspiration from, Sometimes Always Never’s tone can be hit and miss. You have to look deeper into the little fidgets and gestures of everyone’s actions to see how they process grief. This is where Nighy’s modish attitude fits the movie’s tone, making Alan’s coping tactics awkwardly funny while also tragic in his struggle to find closure.

The visuals, by contrast, suffer too much from mimicking Anderson’s trademark style without understanding why his composition shots work. While Anderson masterfully centers his focus of attention per scene, and often to great comedic effect, too often a shot in Sometimes Always Never gravitates toward both the characters and the excess background space without really serving a purpose. Hunter, a bassist for the Liverpool band the Farm, also tends to splice irrelevant details in between conversations (shots of household items like doors, walls, and umbrellas), but they always feel like stylized set décor.

Far too often, Sometimes Always Never’s visual choices feel like a crutch for the story rather than an accommodation of its interpersonal arcs. And that’s a shame, because the father-son dynamic and morose melodrama bits are engaging, as is the use of Scrabble as a metaphor for locating answers. And anything with a passionate Bill Nighy performance can’t help but feel somewhat endearing.