To his credit, Casey Affleck is believably morose in the title role as a twenty‑something who returns to his rural Indiana hometown after struggling as a writer in New York.

He’s almost too good at it, with his sad, drooping eyes and monotone voice, his face in a perpetual state of partial stubble. He may as well be wandering lost in the desert with Matt Damon again as he did in Gus Van Sant’s nearly wordless “Gerry.” That sounds more compelling right about now; at least the cinematography was breathtaking.

Of course we cannot lay all the blame on Affleck. There’s little nuance in this first screenplay from James C. Strouse, directed by Steve Buscemi in varying shades of oatmeal.

The previous directorial outings from Buscemi, best known as a longtime character actor in “The Sopranos” and films like “Reservoir Dogs” and “Fargo,” were also small stories about flawed figures on the fringe of society (“Animal Factory” and “Trees Lounge”).

But those films didn’t have complete disdain for their characters, as “Lonesome Jim” so obviously does.

And did we mention that it’s a comedy? Yes, “Lonesome Jim” is one of those indie movies to which words like “quirky” are so frequently applied. All that means is that it’s having a laugh making fun of the eccentricities of small‑town life as “Lonesome Jim” is set in Goshen, Indiana, Strouse’s hometown.

Jim trudges grudgingly to his parents’ suburban house–packed with knickknacks and faux‑antique country clutter–and is greeted warmly by his smothering mother, Sally (Mary Kay Place). Dad Don (Seymour Cassel), who runs the family’s ladder company, seems indifferent to Jim’s return, as he does to everything else.

Older brother Tim (Kevin Corrigan) seems concerned about Jim’s arrival only because it threatens his status as the family’s biggest loser. Tim, who’s divorced, has moved back home with his two daughters. With Jim back in the fold, though, at least he has someone to whine with.

“I’m just miserable anywhere I go,” Jim says, adding that Tim clearly has it worse. “I think about ending it all as it is. I can’t imagine if I had your life.”

This observation inspires Tim to drive his car into a tree–which Mom, ever the optimist, refers to as “an accident.” Their caricature Mom is given to wearing sweat shirts with teddy bears on them and referring to Jim as “my pretty boy.” No wonder these brothers never found the confidence in themselves to lead ambitious, independent lives.

While his brother is recovering in the hospital, he crosses paths again with Anika (Liv Tyler), a pretty, warmhearted nurse with whom he’d had an awkward one‑night stand when he first got back into town.

When Jim reluctantly admits that he’d worked at an Applebee’s restaurant in New York because he needed the cash, Anika smiles and gushes, “I love Applebee’s!” As if that weren’t enough, Strouse condescendingly milks the kitsch factor of a discussion about which snack food is better, pork rinds or Funyuns.

Jim sort of carves out a life for himself–working at the ladder factory, coaching Tim’s daughters’ woeful basketball team–all of which is forced upon him. And dating Anika simply serves as an excuse to show off the shrine to self‑destructive writers he’s erected on the wall of his childhood bedroom: Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, etc.

So remind us again why she’d want to hang out with him? Oh yes, that’s right. Because she’s a character in an indie movie, and their unlikely pairing is an essential part of the quirk factor.

“Lonesome Jim,” an IFC Films release, runs 91 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.