“You’re Dating a Narcissist!” teases itself as a smart and sincere anti-romcom. But the film quickly devolves into an unrelatable, formulaic, and borderline obnoxious swing-and-miss. Director Ann Marie Allison attempts to offer a modern examination of love and commitment. And she certainly has a capable star in Marisa Tomei. But it all gets lost amid the movie’s strained attempts at humor and too many half-baked characters who only exist to complicate things.

But arguably worse is the baffling journey of the film’s lead character Judy. Played by the immensely talented Tomei, Judy begins as an intelligent, self-assured and accomplished woman, albeit confident to a fault. She’s a successful author, a psychologist, and a professor at a prominent New York university. But over the course of the story, the script turns her into a raving, obsessive lunatic, often for comic purposes which generate more eye-rolls than laughs.

Judy is riding the success of her popular new book “You’re Dating a Narcissist!”, leading her to teach a class on empowering her students to recognize narcissists when looking for a partner. At the same time, her preoccupation with narcissists has turned her extremely cynical towards relationships. That’s why she’s shocked when she gets a call from her 22-year-old daughter Eva (Ciara Bravo) who has some exciting news.

Eva is an art student studying in Los Angeles which is where she meets a hunky young doctor named Theo (Marco Pigossi). After only six weeks of dating the two get engaged. But once the lovesick Eva shares the news with her mother, a panicking Judy immediately flies across the country to “save” her daughter. She brings along her best friend Diane (Sherry Cola) because movies like this seem compelled to throw in a comedic confidante and sidekick.

Once she arrives in LA it’s almost as if a switch is flipped, turning Judy into a deranged person. Of course the movie doesn’t see her that way, and it tries to offset her bizarre behavior with thinly sketched allusions to her past that are meant to earn our sympathy. The problem is that Judy gets more unbearable as the movie bops forward, to the point that it’s hard to feel anything for her. And outside of Eva, the side characters surrounding Judy are too shallow and inconsequential to be anything other than props for her story.

“You’re Dating a Narcissist!” begins as an alluring feature with a lot of promise. But over time it’s like binge-watching a mediocre-at-best sitcom that’s not nearly as smart or funny as it wants to be. Even more frustrating is that it squanders Marisa Tomei who hasn’t missed a step and deserves more prominent starring roles. Sadly the material here doesn’t do her justice, leaving her to carry a load that’s not worth the effort.