Our Laguna:

The Los Angeles Times reviewed Sherwood Kiraly’s novel “Diminished Capacity” as “Funny, utterly guileless and extremely well-written.” Publishers Weekly called the book, “Engaging, quirky.” Kirkus Review said “Diminished Capacity” was “whimsical, charming and funny.”

Equally true of the author, who also writes a column in the Coastline Pilot. How lucky is that?

And to movie-goers’ great good fortune, the film version of “Diminished Capacity,” for which Kiraly wrote the screenplay, is faithful to the book and well cast with Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick in the leads.

“Matthew and Alan got my stuff so well,” Kiraly said.

The book and the movie are a sympathetic, but not maudlin, look at Roland Zerbs, played by Alda, an eccentric before Alzheimer’s diminished his memory, and at his nephew, Cooper, played by Broderick, who is suffering the after-effects of a head injury. “Uncle Rollie” is willing to sell a prized baseball card to keep himself out of an institution and in his home — which incidentally has a pier on the property where Rollie has baited hooks attached by fishing lines to the keys of an old typewriter so the fish can write poetry.

The card is the only one known to be in existence of an early Chicago Cub — a club notorious for giving its loyal fans heartburn.

Cooper, who has been fired because of his diminished abilities as a political editor, is in charge of selling the card — an innocent abroad in a world he sees as slightly off-kilter, not to mention the cut-throat culture of the sellers of baseball memorabilia.

“Matthew will never get the credit he deserves, his acting was so subtle,” Kiraly said.

And right on.

A neurologist told Kiraly that every one should see the movie because it shows the lingering effects of a concussion, and high school athletes are being put back on the field without proper recuperation time.

Three other neurologists complimented the movie on Alda’s performance.

“I wanted Matthew from the beginning, but I had never thought of Alan,” Kiraly said. “When his name came up, I said, ‘Wow.’”

It was 12 years from publication to finished film, which was selected to be shown at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Local folks discovered why Friday. A special showing was at the South Coast Cinema, which included a Q&A with the author.